The importance of pañcaśuddhi is described thus in Suprabhēdāgama:
पञ्चशुद्धिं विना पूजा अभिचाराय कल्पते |
पञ्चशुद्धिविहीनेन यत्कृतं न च तत्कृतम् ||
It is said that without pañcaśuddhi, the ritual of worship performed amounts to abhicāra. Without pañcaśuddhi, the ritual performed does not grant the desired fruit.
Though the list of these śuddhis differs from one Tantra to another, a popular list includes the following:
आत्मशुद्धिः स्थानशुद्धिः मन्त्रस्य शोधनं तथा |
द्रव्यशुद्धिर्देवशुद्धिः शुद्धिः पञ्चविधेरिता ||
Kulārṇava Tantra agrees with the above list from Rudrayāmaḷa:
आत्मस्थानमनुद्रव्यदेवशुद्धिश्च पञ्चमी |
यावन्न क्रियते देवि तावद्देवार्चनं नहि ||
ātmaśuddhi – The upāsaka performs svaśākhōta vaidika snāna followed by Tāntrika snāna based on the dīkṣā obtained. He then performs Vaidika and Tāntrika sandhyāvandana, the most important aspect therein being amantraka or samantraka prāṇāyāma. He then performs Bhūtaśuddhi, tattva-śōdhana and performs ṣaḍaṅga-nyāsa to attain ātmaśuddhi.
Sthānaśuddhi – The upāsaka sprinkles the interior of the dēvatā-gr̥ha and maṇḍapa with pañcagavya and sāmānyārghya bindu. The dēvatā-gr̥ha is cleaned, dusted, scrubbed, wiped, made to smell auspicious by burning incenses and dhūpa, made bright by lighting lamps, decorated with fragrant and pleasing flowers etc. Sthāna-śuddhi is thus accomplished.
Mantraśuddhi – The Tantras prescribe various methods for mantraśuddhi such as using Mātr̥kā/Mālinī, Hamsa vidyā, akṣara prōkṣaṇa etc.
Dravyaśuddhi – The elaborate pātrāsādana we perform in śrī-krama is a fine example of dravyaśuddhi. One displays astra and dhenu mudrās over arghya, does abhimantraṇa with mūlamantra and then sprinkles the self and all articles of worship with the purified arghya-bindu. This is a simple version of dravyaśuddhi. Dvi, tri, pañca, ṣaṭ, sapta, dvādaśa, ṣōḍaśa, aṣṭādaśa and dvāviṁśat pātra sthāpanas, dravya-samskāra, śāpōddhāra, amr̥tīkaraṇa etc. are involved during elaborate dravyaśuddhi.
Devaśuddhi – This involves the prāṇa-pratiṣṭhāpana of the deity, āvāhanādi processes, dhyAna, ṣōḍaśa samskāras for the deity, sakalīkaraṇa, sañjīvana by sprinkling water on the bimba/yantra after abhimantraṇa with mūla, pādukā, and sañjīvana kālikā mantra, etc.