A cleaning device of the present invention is configured to remove toner left on an image carrier after the transfer of a toner image from the image carrier to a recording medium. A rotatable cleaning roller contacts the image carrier for removing the toner left on the image carrier. A rotatable brush roller is positioned upstream of the cleaning roller in the direction of rotation of the image carrier and rubs against the surface of the image carrier and that of the cleaning roller. The cleaning device is free from defective cleaning despite the use of spherical, dry toner grains capable of forming high-quality toner images.