We present a methodology to retrieve the thermal diffusivity of bulk homogeneous samples based on a set of simple linear relations that exist between two measurable magnitudes in modulated photothermal experiments. The influence of the photothermal parameters involved (exciting beam radius and height and radius of the probe beam) is evaluated to assert the validity of the linear relations. Specifically, we discuss the thermoreflectance and mirage techniques and their more convenient use and method, depending on the kind of sample to analyze (solid, liquid, gas), to obtain the thermal diffusivity.