Abstract: For some special flows, especially the potential flow in a plane, using the hodograph method has obvious advantages. Realistic flows have a stream surface, namely, a two-dimensional manifold, on which the velocity vector of the flow lies on its tangent space. By introducing a stream function and a potential function, we establish the hodograph method for potential flows on a surface using the tensor analysis. For the derived hodograph equation, we obtain a characteristic equation and its characteristic roots, from which we can classify the type of the second-order hodograph equation. Moreover, we give some examples for special surfaces.