article クラスで索引は二段組みになっていますので,これを一段組にしてしまうなら index 環境を再定義すれば良いでしょう。
% LaTeX2e
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{makeidx}
\makeatletter
\renewenvironment{theindex}% renew
{\if@twocolumn
\@restonecolfalse
\else
\@restonecoltrue
\fi
% \twocolumn[\section*{\indexname}]% original
\section*{\indexname}%
\@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\indexname}%
{\MakeUppercase\indexname}%
\thispagestyle{plain}\parindent\z@
\parskip\z@ \@plus .3\p@\relax
\columnseprule \z@
\columnsep 35\p@
\let\item\@idxitem}
{\if@restonecol\onecolumn\else\clearpage\fi}
\makeatother
\makeindex
\begin{document}
hoge\index{hogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehoge}
fuga\index{fugafuga}
\printindex
\end{document}
% LaTeX2e
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{makeidx}
\makeatletter
\renewenvironment{theindex}% renew
{\if@twocolumn
\@restonecolfalse
\else
\@restonecoltrue
\fi
% \twocolumn[\section*{\indexname}]% original
\section*{\indexname}%
\@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\indexname}%
{\MakeUppercase\indexname}%
\thispagestyle{plain}\parindent\z@
\parskip\z@ \@plus .3\p@\relax
\columnseprule \z@
\columnsep 35\p@
\let\item\@idxitem}
{\if@restonecol\onecolumn\else\clearpage\fi}
\makeatother
\makeindex
\begin{document}
hoge\index{hogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehogehoge}
fuga\index{fugafuga}
\printindex
\end{document}