Demands for high quality surface finish, dimensional and form accuracy are required for optical surfaces and it is very difficult to achieve these using conventional grinding methods. Electrolytic in-process dressing (ELID) grinding is one new and efficient method that uses a metal-bonded diamond grinding wheel in order to achieve a mirror surface finish especially on hard and brittle materials. However, studies reported so for have not explained the fundamental mechanism of ELID grinding and so it has been studied here by conducting experiments to establish optimal grinding parameters to obtain better surface finish under various in-process dressing conditions. In this research the results show that the cutting forces are unstable throughout the grinding process due to the breakage of an insulating layer formed on the surface of the grinding wheel; however, a smoother surface can be obtained using a high dressing current duty ratio at the cost of high tool wear. ELID grinding is efficient for feed rates of less than 400 mm/min, and surface cracks are observed when it exceeds this limit. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.