Aiming at the problem that accelerometer’s bias and scale factor error decrease the measurement accuracy of centering rod surveying, a performance improving method for pitch measurement is proposed. The error model of centering rod surveying is built so that the relationship between pitch measurement error and accelerometer’s bias and scale factor error are clear. Numerical simulations are conduced out and the error variation is revealed. A two-position correction method is come up and twelve verification experiments are carried out. After correction, the measurement error is reduced from a few centimeters to submillimeter scale. Experimental results illustrate that the accuracy of pitch measurement is improved effectively, which meets the requirements for use. Three repeated experiments are carried out, the calculated uncertainties are 0.053 %, 0.035 % and 0.027 % separately, which indicates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method in practical applications. It can provide some guidance for improving the performance of centering rod surveying.