Reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) is exquisitely sensitive to probe surfaces, with many potential applications in determining surface geometries or monitoring material growth. Thanks to recent computational and methodological progress it has now become possible to calculate surface optical spectra accurately and with true predictive power. Here I review briefly the simulation of RAS spectra and discuss recent methodological advances, which allow for the modelling of self-energy, excitonic and local-field effects in large and complex systems. Numerical results for semiconductor surfaces in comparison to measured data are used to illustrate the potential and limits of the different levels of theory.