The method which is applicable to the inspection of bobbins of yarn of any size, color and material, is based on the acquisition of images of the surface of the bobbin and on their processing by a computer program in order to evaluate defects. The method comprises various steps of exploring the bobbin (1), taking a plurality of images of various areas of said bobbin, each step occuring under specific conditions of lighting and relative position of particular image sensors (3, 4) in order to identify specific defects; to this effect, the bobbin (1) or the image acquisition means (3, 4) is displaced, or both are displaced, in order to explore, sector by sector, the whole surface of interest; each of the focused images, related to a particular defect, is processed individually by the evaluation program.