Based on a specific virtual-axis elastic polishing machine tool with five degrees of freedom that we developed, two practical algorithms to generate tool-path according to the machine characters and the requirement of scallop height that could imitate elastic human polishing behavior were proposed. Among them, the parallel circuit algorithm was simple and fast in calculation while the correlative circuit method was more reliable in producing higher roughness of the work-piece. These algorithms can be used in direct interpolation for freeform surface and easy to be implanted in a surface interpolator based on NURBS standard. Simulation and test have been done with Matlab to verify the methods. These approaches can be commonly used in tool path generation in the field of freeform surface polishing.