The present invention provides a method for appraising the condition of a polishing cloth, and a method for manufacturing semiconductor wafers employing the disclosed appraisal method, allowing acceptably low light point defect numbers of semiconductor wafers to be maintained. The disclosed method comprises polishing the semiconductor wafer using a polishing cloth, washing the wafer, and drying the wafer. The size of particles comprising light point defects is chosen, and the number of light point defects on the semiconductor wafer is counted. Typically, the diameter of particles comprising light point defects is set as 0.12 &mgr;m or greater. The polishing cloth is exchanged when the number of light point defects counted exceeds a prescribed number.