Nowadays the concern with the conservation of the natural sources of raw materials is in evidence, generating a notorious environmental awareness worldwide. For a long time, the society discusses the importance of environmentally friendly products. The ceramic tiles sector is perfectly capable of absorbing a range of industrial products in ceramic compositions. Since the last two decades, research has been carried out aiming at obtaining eco-friendly ceramic tiles with the porcelain stoneware tile typology from the incorporation of industrial wastes as alternative raw materials. However, most of these investigations on the technical feasibility of the insertion of industrial waste were focused on technological and mechanical performance. The behavior regarding the glossiness gain of eco-friendly ceramic tiles remains unknown both in the field of scientific research and in the industrial scope. Thus, the present work aims to evaluate the influence of the microstructural difference, caused by the insertion of industrial wastes, on the final surface quality, considering the polishing process. For the purpose, eco-friendly porcelain stoneware tiles compositions were developed from different industrial residues from the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The surface characteristics prior to polishing were characterized and 3D mapped. The kinematic parameters of polishing were kept constant, as well as the polishing time intentionally saturated, in order to ensure that the microstructural difference is the only variable to be related to the final glossiness reached. In total, six eco-friendly compositions were polished, three of them with different proportions of the waste from the breakage of bricks and roof tiles and another three from different proportions of the waste from the beneficiation of primary kaolin ore. The surface quality of the compositions was characterized by determination of glossiness and roughness curves as well as the morphology of the samples. The patterns were compared to a waste-free composition. The experimental results validate the full potential of using of industrial wastes as alternative raw materials for the production of polished porcelain stoneware tiles, enabling the direct transfer of knowledge to the productive sector, in addition, contributing to the diversification of the Brazilian industrial matrix towards more technologically advanced and of greater added value.