Silicon carbide (SiC) surface cleaning and etching (wet, electrochemical, thermal) are important technological processes in preparation of SiC wafers for crystal growth, defect analysis or device processing. While removal of organic, particulate and metallic contaminants by chemical cleaning is a routine process in research and industrial production, the etching which, in addition to structural defects analysis, can also be used to modify wafer surface structure, is very interesting for development of innovative device concepts. In this book chapter we review SiC chemical cleaning and etching procedures and present perspectives of SiC etching for new device development.