Process for pickling steel-based metallic materials

A process of pickling surfaces of a steel-based metallic material containing iron, carbon and chromium at a high speed wherein the surfaces of the metallic material are pickled at a high speed by dipping and then pickling the surfaces of the metallic material in an aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid or an aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid-nitric acid mixture while at least one kind of ion selected from a group comprising a platinum ion, a palladium ion and a rhodium ion is contained in a hydrochloric acid having a temperature of 50 to 110 DEG C and a concentration of 100 to 450 g/l with NO3 ion contained therein by a quantity of 500 g/l or less, as desired, or pickling treatment in the aforementioned aqueous solution.