Studies conducted in semiarid and arid areas indicated that the runoff generation mechanisms in these areas correspond mainly to infiltration-excess overland flow, which is caused by large rainfall intensities but also by unfavourable soil surface characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to present relevant field criteria for classifying soil surface characteristics according to their infiltration properties. The description of soil surface characteristics was based on criteria that can be observed at the field scale. For each observed soil surface characteristic, steady state infiltration rate was measured using a rainfall simulator on a m² scale. Analysis of variance was used to seek which field criteria enable to explain the most of the spatial variation of the infiltration rates. The results showed that more than 55% of the total variance of observed infiltration rates can be explained by a few criteria, which lead to propose a classification approach of soil surface features in Mediterranean conditions.