A simplified yet effective design procedure for viscous dampers was presented based on improved capacity spectrum method in the context of performance-based seismic design. The amount of added viscous damping required to meet a given performance objective was evaluated from the difference between the total demand for effective damping and inherent damping plus equivalent damping resulting from hysteretic deformation of system. Application of the method is illustrated by means of two examples, using Chinese design response spectrum and mean response spectrum. Nonlinear dynamic analysis results indicate that the maximum displacements of structures installed with supplemental dampers designed in accordance with the proposed method agree well with the given target displacements. The advantage of the presented procedure over the conventional iterative design method is also highlighted.