Indian rugs can be luxurious or simplistic, having a wide range of designs, and a significant background involving several cultures.

Some Indian rug designs have been highly influenced by Iran, using curvilinear methods like Esfahan.

Popular designs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were Indian rugs with an all-over layout of tiny natural motifs such as plants, palmettes, rosettes and leaves in beautiful small and detailed designs. Then quite often the same motif would be repeated through the entire rug. Popular designs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also had borders usually very similar to the motifs in the field.

The colors used in these kinds of Indian rugs were mostly coordinated to suit the Western taste. A brownish red was the dominant shade for eighteenth and nineteenth century Indian rugs, often in conjunction with delicate touches of burnt orange, light green and dark green. But burnt oranges and shades of green were also commonly used as the dominant color for an Indian rug.

Some of the Indian designs used were only derived from Persian styles. However, many rugs of this period were exact duplicates of Persian designs.

There have been many Chinese, and Turkoman styles adopted by Indian weavers as well, especially since the middle of the twentieth century. Therefore we have these styles in addition to the Persian designs, and the European Aubusson and Savonnerie designs of Indian rugs. However, Indian rugs purchasable today most commonly made in workshops