This paper focuses on the application of laser speckle technique for the assessment of the effectiveness of laser cleaning of cementitious surfaces. Laser speckle-based methods are non-contact, highly resolving techniques for the measurement of displacement, rotation, and strain of an illuminated area on a rough surface. Since the intensity of reflected light depends on the geometrical microstructure and colour of the samples, any alterations of the surface result in different speckle images. Analysis of speckle images presented here is based on the analysis of the distribution of intensity of reflected light obtained in a selected plane, and analysis of statistical parameters describing such distribution (skewness and kurtosis). A wide range of laser-cleaned mortar samples with different geometrical microstructure and moisture content has been subjected to the assessment by He-Ne laser. Laser speckle method has been successfully used to identify the effectiveness of the laser cleaning process with respect to different surface conditions. It appears that the changes in kurtosis and skewness should be mainly associated with the alterations of geometrical microstructure. Whereas, mean light intensity seemed to depend predominantly on the mortar's absorption characteristics (colour). (C) 2007 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.