A slurry composition enhances the removal of polish-resistant surface moieties from the surface of a semiconductor wafer during chemical-mechanical polishing. The slurry composition is a mixture including a solvent, a plurality of abrasive particles, and a chelating agent. The abrasive particles abrade the surface of the wafer to remove surface moieties and underlying material. The chelating agent is selected to react with polish-resistant surface moieties on the surface of the wafer surface, to thereby render the surface moieties easier to remove from the surface layer with substantially non-aggressive chemical-mechanical polishing techniques. In operation, the surface moieties and the underlying bulk material are removed by a combination of the chemical effects of the chelating agent and the mechanical effects of the abrasive particles.