This paper reports a study of various factors that influence surface segregation in austenitic stainless steels. In particular four rather practical questions are addressed, all of which arose from various concerns about the corrosion behavior of these alloys. They are the following: (1) will significant segregation occur at temperatures below 500°C?; (2) is sulfur segregation affected by the presence of a strong sulfide former such as Mn?; (3) does silicon segregate to interfaces in these alloys?; and (4) do niobium additions affect phosphorus segregation in these alloys? The results show that at temperatures below 500°C, phosphorus, sulfur, nitrogen and silicon will all segregate, although at about 300°C the kinetics of segregation are becoming rather sluggish. Silicon will also segregate at temperatures at least up to 650OC. Manganese additions greatly lower sulfur segregation but niobium additions do not retard phosphorus segregation. In addition to the presentation of these results on surface segregation we consider what can IE learned from them about grain boundary segregation and how they can be used to help interpret results on intergranular corrosion and stress corrosion cracking.