Abstract: The mid-spatial frequency error of high precision optical surface is crucial to the performance of high-energy laser system. To assure the performance and stability of the system, the low frequency error and high frequency error of the optical lens surface must be strictly controlled, the mid-spatial frequency error must also be strictly limited. In this paper, the relationship between empirical mode decomposition-Wigner-Ville distribution (EMD-WVD) method and power spectrum density is analyzed, and EMD-WVD diagnosis method is applied to identifying and locating the mid-spatial frequency error of the precision optical surface. The experimental results show that, with EMD-WVD method, the mid-spatial frequency error distribution of optical surface can be located in 15-27 mm and the spatial frequency is 0.1 mm-1, the interference of cross-term caused by multi-component signal whose spatial frequency is about 1.0-1.5 mm-1 can also be reduced, which enhances the identification accuracy of mid-spatial frequency error.