This paper has described a new approach on stress corrosion cracking ( SCC ) of commercial austenitic stainless steels ( type 304 and type 316 ) and ferritic stainless steel ( type 430 ) as functions of stress, environmental factors ( pH, temperature and concentration ) and potential in acidic solutions by using a constant load method. The present approach gives an important information on evaluation of SCC susceptibility, prediction of time to failure, estimation of a critical value below which no SCC occurs, and so on in terms of three parameters ( steady state elongation rate, transition time and time to failure ) obtained from corrosion elongation curve. Specifically, the steady state elongation rate and the transition time play an important role in considering them regardless of stress, the materials, the environmental factors, anion species and potential. In addition, a SCC mechanism is systematically inferred on the basis of the results obtained.