This paper applies electromagnetic wave theory for the study of the internal radiant absorption field of a small spherical particle, particularly to determine the optimum combination of size-to-wavelength parameter and complex refractive index for maximum local peak absorption. A map is devised to illustrate the general pattern of the internal field, which can be divided into three main regimes: uniform, front-concentrated, and back-concentrated absorption. In addition, the current study employs geometrical optics to investigate the internal field of radiant absorption. A comparison between the results from the geometrical optics approach to those from electromagnetic wave theory shows that the error involved in the geometrical optics approach increases sharply with the real part of the complex refractive index. A criterion is established to define the region of the applicability of geometrical optics.