Cleaning of bare or coated stainless steel surfaces is investigated using some specific techniques for both particulate soil and oil removal. Particulate soil is removed from the surface by a water drop sliding, whereas oil is eliminated by shear flow of a commercial detergent. The cleanability performance is found to depend both on surface energy and topography. In general, the water contact angle hysteresis, which itself is related to the advancing contact angle and the surface roughness, is found to be an appropriate criterion for characterizing the cleaning performance. This finding is discussed in terms of retention and removal forces during the cleaning process and could provide in the future a criterion for material selection for industrial use of stainless steel surfaces.