The history of Smirnoff Vodka began in 1910 when Vladimir Smirnov took over the company after the death of his father Pjotr Smirnov. During the October Revolution the distillery was confiscated and the family had to flee to Constantinople where Vladimir built a new distillery. Four years later the family moved to Lviv; in 1925 the spelling of the name was changed to Smirnoff and by the late 1930s Smirnoff was exported to most European countries. In 1934, Vladimir Smirnov sold the company to Rudolph Kunett, who moved the headquarters to the USA. Smirnoff is now part of Diageo and is one of the world's best-selling vodkas.

Smirnoff was the first distillery in the world to use charcoal for filtering.