A contactless, all-optical and non-destructive technique for simultaneous measurement of minority carrier recombination lifetime and surface recombination velocity, at low injection level, in multi-crystalline silicon samples is presented. Being contactless and non-destructive with respect to the surface to be analyzed, the method does not need any surface treatment to be applied and therefore is suitable for routine lifetime characterization in solar cell fabrication processes. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.