In this paper a leaky Rayleigh wave is used as a source generating an exponentially decaying (along the wave front) inhomogeneous wave in a fluid. The inhomogeneity of the leaked wave beam profile is measured experimentally and compared with that predicted from the theoretically calculated imaginary part of the leaky Rayleigh wave number. The excited inhomogeneous wave is incident normally upon an aluminum sample with a rough back surface. The rough surface is isolated by a gap from the immersing liquid. The reflection of this wave from a solid–air boundary of periodic sawtooth profile is studied. The frequency spectrum of the wave reflected from such an aluminum–air rough surface is measured and a sharp dip in the spectrum is observed which can be attributed to the excitation of a Rayleigh wave along the rough surface. Good agreement is obtained between experimental data and inhomogeneous plane wave theory.