Systematic results of the field emission properties of polycrystalline copper and niobium and single-crystal Nb are reported. Dry ice cleaning DIC is found to suppress enhanced field emission from metallic surfaces. The cleaning effect on the emitting sites was investigated by means of field emission scanning microscopy up to fields of 250 MV/m and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray analysis. The number density of emitters at given fields was drastically reduced by dry ice cleaning. Current-voltage measurements and derived Fowler-Nordheim parameters are partially discussed with respect to the morphology and impurity content of localized emitters. No emission from grain boundaries on large-grain Nb samples was observed. The microscopy results prove the effective removal of field-emitting particulates down to 400 nm as well as the partial smoothing of surface protrusions by DIC. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.