A discharging method of removing electric charge from a substrate is provided. In the discharging method, gas is supplied into a processing chamber while the substrate is placed on an electrostatic chuck provided in the processing chamber, and direct-current (DC) voltage is applied to an attracting electrode of the electrostatic chuck, until discharge occurs in the processing chamber. After the discharge occurs, the DC voltage is adjusted to a magnitude in which an amount of charge on the substrate becomes zero or becomes in a neighborhood of zero, and the substrate is removed from the electrostatic chuck.