The improved carpet cleaning machine (10), intended for use with "dry" carpet cleaning systems using dampened particles (17), can be used for carpet "brushing" for dirt removal and for later vacuuming to remove dirt-laden particles (17). The machine (10) has a concentrically-mounted cyclone separator (21a) and a conical screen filter (23a) in series. The separator (21a) has air (25) flowing through it downwardly along a vortical path (37) and then upward along another path (45). Such upward-flowing air impinges on the outer surface (47) of the screen filter (23a) and many particles (17) adhering to such filter (23a) are dislodged. One or more additional media (67, 87) may be used to remove very fine particles (17).