The paper presents a novel method for quantification of the modifications that occur on the surface of different types of gel-coated glass fibre-reinforced polyester composites under artificial UV-ageing at 254 nm. The method implies the adsorption of an ionic dye, namely methylene blue, on the UV-aged composite, and computing the CIELab colour space parameters from the photographic image of the coloured composite's surface. The method significantly enhances the colour differences between the irradiated composites and the reference, in contrast with the non-coloured ones. The colour modifications that occur represent a good indicative of the surface degradation, alteration of surface hydrophily and roughness of the composite and are in good correlation with the ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and optical microscopy results. The proposed method is easier, faster and cheaper than the traditional ones. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.