A polishing apparatus for polishing a workpiece includes a chuck table having a holding surface for holding the workpiece placed on the holding surface under suction thereon, a polishing unit for polishing the workpiece held on the chuck table with a polishing pad while supplying a slurry to the workpiece, and a high-pressure steam ejecting unit having a nozzle for ejecting high-pressure steam to the holding surface of the chuck table. The high-pressure steam ejecting unit ejects high-pressure steam to swarf produced from polishing the workpiece and deposited on an outer circumferential portion of the holding surface for thereby removing the swarf from the holding surface.