The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the polishing period on surface roughness (Ra) before and after thermal aging in four composite resins - CR (Durafill VS, Vittra APS, Filtek Z350XT and Spectra Smart). This in vitro study evaluated: (1) CR in 4 levels; (2) polishing period (PP) in three levels (immediate, 7 and 14 days) and (3) artificial aging in two levels: without aging and after 10,000 cycles. For this, 240 CR specimens were allocated into 12 groups (n=20) according to PP with SofLex Pop On disks.  For Ra, 3 measurements on the top surface of each specimen were performed with a diamond tip and constant load of 4mN and 0.25mm/s. Next, the specimens were aged in thermocycling, with temperatures of 5° and 55°C, during 30 seconds in each temperature, and repeated testing afterwards. The data were submitted to statistical tests with 5% significance. The alteration in Ra was observed only in the late polishing in the period of 7 days, where the Durafill VS CR showed higher Ra in comparison to the other CRs. After thermocycling, the groups showed significant difference only with late polishing in the 21-day period; the nanoparticulated RCs (Z350XT˂Vittra APS) recorded the highest Ra values, followed by the microhybrid (DurafillVS) and nanohybrid (Spectra Smart) RCs, respectively. Thus, late polishing in the 7-day and immediate period provided higher Ra values, especially for the nanohybrid and microhybrid composite resins.