Results of chlorine and phosphorus gettering of photovoltaic (PV) polycrystalline silicon are presented. Using surface photovoltage (SPV) diffusion length (L) measurements, it has been established that PV polysilicon is very inhomogeneous and gettering only improves L values in regions in which L is relatively high and a large amount of nonprecipitated Fe and Cr is present. In regions with low L, nonprecipitated Fe and Cr were not detected in as-grown polysilicon and gettering did not cause any substantial improvement in L values. It is conceivable that recombination in these regions is controlled by grown-in defects.