An investigation of surge inception in a centrifugal compressor was done with measurements of steady and unsteady static pressure. Vaneless diffuser and vaned diffuser were tested. Analyses of the static pressure and the pressure fluctuation showed that stall at the impeller leading edge occurred at first, and then it extended to downstream. In case of the vaneless diffuser, deterioration of the pressure rise in the impeller triggered instability. For the vande diffuser, instability that was generated in the impeller propagated into the vaned diffuser, however the pressure recovery by the vaned diffuser made the operation of the compressor stable at low flow rate.