Abstract: Described herein is a water-based, alkaline cleaner concentrate for producing a cleaner for metallic surfaces, the concentrate including a) at least one (meth)acrylic acid homopolymer having a weight-average molar mass in the range from 3 000 to 19 000 g/mol and b) at least one (meth)acrylic acid copolymer having a weight-average molar mass in the range from 50 000 to 100 000 g/mol. Also described herein are a corresponding cleaner for metallic surfaces with reduced pickling erosion, a process for anticorrosive treatment of metallic surfaces that includes a corresponding cleaning step, a metallic surface obtained by the process, and a method of use thereof in the sector of the metalworking industries.