Deployment of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) for excavation of tunnel structures in particular rock mass environment requires to provide an efficient TBM advance rate by application of the proper excavation regime. The applied regime has to respond to the changes in the excavated rock mass and to the wear of cutting discs installed on the TBM cutterhead. The paper describes a method for the control of excavation efficiency using the excavation process variables monitored during the TBM operation, with subsequent calculation of specific cutting energy, contact pressure of cutting discs and theoretical torque of the TBM cutterhead.