A polishing method that carries out a multi-step polishing process with improved polishing conditions (polishing recipe) while omitting measurement of the surface conditions of a substrate, as carried out between polishing steps thereby increasing the throughput. The polishing method for polishing workpieces by repeating the sequential operations of taking a workpiece out of a cassette in which a plurality of workpieces are stored, carrying out multi-step polishing of a surface of the workpiece and returning the workpiece to the cassette, includes carrying out one of the following two polishing processes for the workpiece taken out of the cassette: a first polishing process comprising carrying out the multi-step polishing under preset conditions and measurement of the surface of the workpiece before and after each polishing step; and a second polishing process comprising carrying out a predetermined step of the multi-step polishing under polishing conditions which have been modified based on the results of the measurement.