In rolling metal foils, such as aluminum foils, especially very thin foils in the range down to 10 .mu.m, an improved uniformity of the foil thickness over the width of the foil sheet and, simultaneously, greater rolling speeds of the foil sheet are obtained by operating the rolling apparatus at a working point of the rolling force/material-working or line force/deformation characteristic curve which lies below the saturation region in which, while the material-working or deformation is nearly independent of the rolling or line force, the rolling or pulling speed is determined by other parameters and can not be varied. The thickness variations occurring under this selection of the working point and due to variations in the rolling or line force over the width of the rolls are compensated by regulating the rolling or line force such that the thickness reduction is constant over the width of the sheet or has a desired profile of variation. This can be obtained by, for instance, constructing one or more of the rolls as a controlled deflection roll provided with a series of pressure or support elements having regulatable pressing forces distributed over the width of the roll.