Abstract. Laser-induced incandescence (LII) of silicon surface is investigated under the excitation by a Q-switched YAG:Nd laser. With the increase of laser irradiation dose, the increase of LII signal is observed, which is attended by visible changes of the surface geometry. The anomalous behavior of the parameter of non-linearity of LII is observed with the increase of laser excitation power.Keywords: laser-induced incandescence, silicon, laser surface processing.Manuscript received 27.08.12; revised version received 25.09.12; accepted for publication 17.10.12; published online 12.12.12.