A method of detecting defects in a rolling bearing (10). The method includes acquiring a time-domain vibration signal An; filtering said time-domain vibration signal An; and then resolving it to obtain a deterministic time-domain vibration signal Fn and a random time-domain vibration signal Gn. Thereafter, the time-domain vibration signals Fn and Gn are transformed respectively into a deterministic frequency-domain vibration signal Jn and into a random frequency-domain vibration signal Kn, and then, for each element (11, 12, 13) and for each frequency-domain vibration signal Jn, Kn, a defect-presence frequency {circumflex over (α)} is determined corresponding to a maximum probability of the presence of a defect in said element (11, 12, 13) and to an associated reliability level p({circumflex over (α)}). An alert message indicating at least one defect in at least one element (11, 12, 13) is potentially delivered depending on the values of each defect-presence frequency {circumflex over (α)} and on each associated reliability level p({circumflex over (α)}).