A polishing composition containing an abrasive and water, wherein the polishing composition has a pH of from 0.1 to 7, and satisfies the following conditions: (1) that the number of polishing particles having sizes of 0.56 μm or more and less than 1 μm is 500,000 or less per 1 cm3 of the polishing composition; and (2) that the ratio of polishing particles having sizes of 1 μm or more is 0.001% by weight or less to the entire polishing particles in the polishing composition. The polishing composition is suitable for polishing substrates for precision parts including, for example, recording disk substrates, such as magnetic disks, optical disks, and opto-magnetic disks, photomask substrates, optical lenses, optical mirrors, optical prisms and semiconductor substrates, and the like.