PURPOSE: To inhibit the pitting corrosion of an austenitic stainless steel sheet, by acid pickling a hot-rolled steel sheet to remove surface scale, and then dipping it in a hot aqueous alkali solution to remove nonmetallic inclusions exposed on the surface.

CONSTITUTION: A hot-rolled austenitic stainless steel sheet is pickled to remove scale on its surface. Thereafter, the steel sheet is dipped in the hot aqueous solution of alkali such as caustic soda, for instance, a hot aqueous caustic soda solution of concentration of 30W50%, to remove nonmetallic inclusions composed of silicon and aluminum. Consequently, the silicon- and aluminum-type nonmetallic inclusions which would act as the starting points to form pitting corrosion during the use of the austenitic stainless steel sheet are removed to eliminate the formation of pitting corrosion.