This paper describes an improved error separation technique (EST) for on-machine surface profile measurement which can be applied to optical lenses on precision and ultra-precision machine tools. With only one precise probe and a linear stage, improved EST not only reduces measurement costs, but also shortens the sampling interval, which implies that this method can be used to measure the profile of small-bore lenses. The improved EST with stitching method can be applied to measure the profile of high-height lenses as well. Since the improvement is simple, most of the traditional EST can be modified by this method. The theoretical analysis and experimental results in this paper show that the improved EST eliminates the slide error successfully and generates an accurate lens profile.