Papers for the cigarette industry contain a sophisticated mixture of mineral fillers, each one serving a special purpose. Yet, not only the type and amount but also the distribution of the individual fillers influence paper properties like e.g. opacity or printability. Optimizing the pigment distribution in the sheet is therefore a major task for the proper control of desired paper characteristics. In this paper Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), a surface analysis technique, was used to determine the z-directional distribution of fillers in handsheets and tipping basepapers. The TOF-SIMS was operated in the imaging mode, optimized for sub-micrometer lateral resolution while maintaining a sufficiently high mass resolution to separate elemental and molecular peaks at the same nominal mass ( e.g . Aluminium and C₂H₃). To analyse the TOF-SIMS images a special image processing software with a correction algorithm for variations in paper thickness and waviness was developed. Paper samples used for the measurements were made on a sheet former, varying the filler composition and content, particle size, retention additive, and the conditions of sheet formation or they were taken from a conventional fourdrinier machine. The samples were embedded in resins and cross-sections were prepared by microtoming with a diamond knife. Twenty to thirty secondary ion images of Calcium, Silicon, Titanium, Magnesium, Iron and Aluminium were acquired per paper sample to get a statistical profile of filler distribution.