Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining the profile of a surface using contactless distance measurement, wherein a light pencil which has been scattered and reflected from the surface is split into two light pencils having substantially the same distribution of intensities in a plane transverse to the direction of propagation. In doing so, the ratio of the intensities of the two partial pencils is dependent on the principal beam direction of the light pencil which was scattered and reflected from the surface. At least one of the partial pencils is then detected by a photodetector and a resulting signal from the photodetector is evaluated as an accurate measure of surface profile or roughness. By providing this method and apparatus, noise from interference phenomena such as "speckles" is significantly reduced, and thus, the evaluated signal(s) from the photodetector(s) become more reliable.