A wafer dry cleaning method and apparatus capable of eliminating or suppressing adhesion of dust and particles on dried wafer surfaces while minimizing generation of water marks thereon. To achive this, the wafer dryer apparatus is configured including a surface cleaning/drying chamber structure which houses therein a set of spaced-apart silicon wafer workpieces. The dry chamber is operatively associated with a vacuum evacuation device for retaining the interior of this chamber at low pressures required. A water-drain device is provided for forcing water content separated off from the wafer surfaces to drain out of the drying vessel. During such wafer drying process, the wafers may be driven rotating at high speeds to thereby accelerate centrifugal spin-off of residual drops of water on wafer surfaces. Preferably, a chosen purge gas may be fed into the chamber during wafer rotation. The purge gas supply gets started substantially simultaneously upon activation of a vacuum pump for chamber evacuation, or after completion of such vacuum evacuation. In one illustrative embodiment ultrapure water may be used to rinse the wafers in the chamber.