Elasto-plastic finite element analysis was performed for a burnishing process for the inner surface of a cylinder by mandrel. Three different configurations in roughness of the inner surface, two different thicknesses of the cylinder wall, and five different diameters of the mandrel were selected for the present investigation. Although the surface roughness was improved with the increase of the mandrel diameter, defects of folding occurred as the mandrel diameter exceeded certain limits. Improvements in the surface roughness, distributions of effective strain, effective stress and residual circumferential stress, and the variation of mandrel force were also investigated.