Approximate critical conditions for a thermal explosion problem is developed for a two-step reactions based on theories of Semenov and Frank-Kamenetskii. The aim is to examine the contributions of the radical termination step and the temperature dependent pre-exponential factor on the critical parameters within the framework of classical stationary and non-stationary theories. In the non-stationary case, a more general expression for the critical Semenov parameter (Ψ _cr ) and critical temperature (θ _cr ) were obtained by asymptotic procedure. In the stationary case, numerical estimates for the critical Frank-Kamenetskii parameter (δ _cr ) and the critical temperature (θ _cr ) were obtained by variational method technique. It was observed that the Semenov and Frank-Kamenetskii parameters are greatly influenced by the termination step and the variable pre-exponential factor. Apart from elucidating hitherto unknown features in the theory of thermal explosion, the results are more general as some known results are easily recovered.