Abstract We study the parameter dependence of numerical results obtained by the tensor renormalization group. We often observe irregular behavior as the parameters are varied with the method. Using the two-dimensional Ising model we explicitly show that the sharp cutoff used in the truncated singular value decomposition causes this unwanted behavior when the level crossing happens between singular values below and above the truncation order as the parameters are varied. We also test a smooth cutoff, instead of the sharp one, as a truncation scheme and discuss its effects.