Abstract <p>Tool steel materials selection is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. There are various available MCDM techniques applicable to tool steel materials selection. The methods may generate non-negligible differences in the rankings of alternative materials. However, it is unknown which MCDM is more suitable to the given material selection problem. As each MCDM has its own characteristics, it is better desirable to decide more reasonable comprehensive rankings by fully considering the rankings obtained from individual MCDMs. This paper proposes a best tool steel materials selection method combined with the ranking results obtained from multiple popular MCDMs. The method selects the best tool steel materials using comprehensive rank indices of alternative materials. The comprehensive rank indices are calculated based on rank frequency rates of the alternative materials. To verify its effectiveness, the proposed method is applied to select best tool steel materials among ten alternative materials in consideration of nine attributes. It could be widely used to help materials designers and engineers select the best material in many engineering practices.</p>