The effects of mechanical grinding/polishing, surface roughness, and near-surface deformation on the electrochemical corrosion behavior of thermally treated (TT) Alloy 690 were studied in a sodium chloride solution. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses revealed that mechanical grinding/polishing can change the ratio of the elements at the surface of the as-received Alloy 690TT specimen by removing its Cr-rich outer layer and causing deformation at the nearsurface microstructure, something which has a direct impact on the rate of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the pitting potential (E pit ), and the corrosion potential (E corr ) of Alloy 690TT. It was observed that the ratio of Cr in the surface is a significant factor that controls the rate of the ORR and the corrosion parameters such as E corr . Higher amounts of Cr at the surface accelerate the ORR. The near-surface deformation shifts the E pit values towards less positive potentials. It was also found that due to the different near-surface chemical composition of the as-received Alloy 690TT specimen compared with the ground and the polished specimens, the surface roughness parameters do not have a regular correlation with the rate of the ORR and the values of the E corr and the E pit . Only the passive current density increases when the surface roughness is increased.