To provide a heat treating method wherein its heating/cooling efficiencies are high and the variation generated in the temperature distribution of a treated member can be suppressed, even in rapid temperature rise/fall of the treated member having a light transparency.

The heat treating method heats a wafer 24 by induction heating and cools the wafer 24 by a cooling medium flowing along the disposal path of an induction-heating coil 16. In this method, a graphite 20 induction-heated by the induction-heating coil 16 and the wafer 24 are placed adjacently to each other. Further, a gas layer 26 is interposed between the graphite 20 and the wafer 24. Moreover, the wafer 24 is heated by the radiating heat radiated from the graphite 20 heated by induction heating and by heat transmission through the gas layer 26. Furthermore, the wafer 24 is cooled by radiation heat absorption of the graphite 20 cooled via the cooling medium and by heat transfer through the gas layer 26.