Abstract: The variation in altitude density function (ADF) of the surface topography of mild steel during electrochemical polishing (ECP) was investigated, and the mechanism of the variation of surface roughness with polishing time was analyzed. The results show that the variation trend of ADF with polishing time is flat-steep-flat; the variation of surface roughness results in the different distributions of surface current density, and there is a fine surface smoothness in the special period of ECP from 4 to 8 s.