The article touches upon the importance and vital problems of small business in the Altai Region. The authors have carried out the comparative estimation of the level and dynamics of small business development in the Altai Region for the period of social and economic changes. Our region has been compared to other regions of Western Siberia. According to the results of the research, the authors have defined the basic problems of direct entrepreneurship, as well as the vital issues of organizing and stimulating the labor of employees. The priority spheres of governmental support of small business are also defined in the article.