The effect of localized photoetching on the photoresponse of n-MoSe2 and n-WSe2 single crystal electrodes has been examined with the help of the scanning microscope for semiconductor characterization (SMSC) technique. The SMSC technique has been used to obtain real video images of the photocurrent response distribution over the semiconductor van der Waals surface after photoetching. A direct comparison of the photoresponse corresponding to photocorroded and non-photocorroded areas can readily be established from these images. On the basis of various examples, it is shown that under moderate depletion conditions of the space-charge region, the highest photoresponse always corresponds to photoetched zones. This is unequivocally interpreted as an improvement of the kinetics of charge transfer at photoattacked compared with non-photoattacked areas. This trend is always observed whatever the degree of roughness of the photocorroded surface. However, the beneficial effect of photoetching is more persistent on rough (stepped) than on smooth regions.