SiC crystal is a wide band gap material of high hardness and chemical inertness. Graphene is nowadays a ubiquitous 2D material that would revolutionize many applications. Combining the characteristics of SiC and graphene higher performance and efficiency are expected, e.g. for high frequency electronic devices. The obtaining of graphene directly on SiC substrates by a single step thermal decomposition process is promising, but optimal standardized conditions are not established. We present the use of chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) as a pre-graphene growth SiC conditioning to enable deep comprehension of the mechanisms of SiC decomposition and control towards selective formation of graphene.