While be ground, ceramic is prone to engender surface/subsurface crack damage layer because of great grinding force and high brittle of the material. The crack damage layer was investigated in this research. In experiment, it is observed that the surface/subsurface crack damage layer consists of three kinds of cracks: surface micro-cracks, surface macro-cracks and subsurface crack system. To evaluate expediently the degree of damage to the machined components, the index of surface/subsurface crack damage - D-c, is defined.