Using an abrasive material to rub the workpiece's surface to make it shiny or in some rare cases make it un-shiny. Most common abrasive material includes abrasive paper, whetstone, cotton cloth (cotton wheel) and linen cloth (linen wheel). A material with rougher coarseness is normally applied first and then move to the material with a finer coarseness to gain more shiny surfaces.

Depending on the abrasive material and the workpiece's material, polishing can make the surface finish between Ra 0.8~Ra0.1. Complicated surface polishing with small volume like mold is normally handled by labors while regular surface (cylinder surface for example) with larger volume involves rotating machines or even auto polishing lines. The polishing process can be applied to most metal and hard plastics parts.

A process called mirror EDM can also achieve a shiny surface for metal parts. But it involves much more expensive equipment and tools.