The invention relates to a method for inspecting the surface quality of the deposit created on the surface of an electrode in the electrolytic treatment of metals. According to the invention, a cathode (1) obtained from electrolytic treatment is illuminated by at least one light source (3) placed in an oblique position with respect to the plane (12) that constitutes the cathode surface, and an image of the illuminated surface (12) is made with at least one camera (8); said image is then transmitted to an image processing arrangement (9), and on the basis of said image, there are defined possible irregularities of the surface in order to classify the deposit (11) located on the cathode for the next processing step.