During aluminium alloy processing and storage, oils or temporary corrosion control measures might be applied, producing organic residuals on the alloy surface. For those reasons, prior to application of a permanent corrosion protection treatment, it is necessary to perform a pre-treatment in order to remove all organic contaminants, the near-surface deformed layer and to activate the surface. This ensures a homogeneous and reproducible response to the subsequent protective treatment. Such pre-treatment generally involves the immersion of the part in a chromium-based electrolyte. In this paper the effect of friendly pre-treatment solutions on the final surface morphology of AA2024-T3 has been investigated by scanning electron microscopy observations and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry measurements. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization analysis were applied to disclose the corrosion behaviour after pre-treatments.