Surface finish is one of the most important quality characteristics of mechanical components. This trait is even more critical for parts fabricated through additive manufacturing (AM). However, current AM processes – such as direct laser deposition (DLD) – generate parts with a relatively high surface roughness (typically between 5 and 20 μm) partially caused by the staircase structures. In this context, the primary objective of this study was to investigate and characterize the evolution of surface quality for DLD produced parts with respect to powder flow orientation. Secondly, surface quality characteristics were analyzed in detail in terms of areal average surface roughness Sa, waviness Wa, their combined value CSaWa, and surface topography spectrums both before and after LP. The experimental results obtained have indicated a significant efficiency of the LP process as suggested by the substantial – i.e., over 70% - increase of the surface quality. This was numerically expressed through important areal surface roughness Sa reductions for wavelength ranging between 5.2 and 2662.4 μm for all (left, right, front, back) surfaces. In summary, this study has developed fundamental knowledge on the applicability of LP on DLD-manufactured surfaces.