Quantitative acoustic microscopy (QAM) has been used to measure surface wave velocities on polished, anodized and coated aluminium substrates, these materials being representative of those used for adhesive bonding in the aerospace industry. Good quality acoustic measurements were obtainable at frequencies between 225 and 980 MHz, despite the inhomogeneous nature of the oxide layer produced by phosphoric acid anodization (PAA). Good agreement was obtained between the surface acoustic wave dispersion measured on aluminium coated with 0.2 and 1.0 mu m PMMA, and that calculated by a simple isotropic layer model. The anodized aluminium was modelled as a transversely isotropic oxide layer on an aluminium substrate. At 0.2 mu m, the oxide layer was too thin for the comparison between measurement and calculation to be conclusive, but the calculations suggest that a change in porosity of 10% in a 0.6 mu m oxide layer, as obtained with an industry standard PAA treatment, should be readily detectable. The highly dispersive nature of some of the surface acoustic wave modes makes OAM extremely sensitive to small changes in the material parameters.