Abstract: The surface quality of strip steel is a very important aspect of strip steel quality. The traditional method of surface quality evaluation only considers the number and the level of defects, with regardless of the defect distribution which is closely related with the client application. This paper presents a linear programming model under the conditions of client application and the defect distribution data, then the strip utilization with and without surface defects are obtained, and their ratio can be used as a standard in testing the strip surface quality. This method avoids the limitations of the traditional quality evaluation which can't reflect the client application, ensuring the scientificity and practicality of the surface quality evaluation. The example indicates that the proposed method is feasible, effective and has a certain application.