Emitter surface roughness is one of the important factors of electron beam degradation in magnetron injection gun (MIG) and the decrease of gyrotron efficiency. This paper surveys the influence of emitter surface roughness on the operation of the EU 1 MW 170 GHz gyrotron for ITER for two different gun designs. The emitter surface roughness was taken into account using a simple model. The ESRAY code was used for gun simulation and the EURIDICE code for calculation of the RF interaction in the cavity. The degradation of the beam quality due to the surface roughness is quantitatively studied and, furthermore, the influence on the gyrotron efficiency and the mode competition are investigated. Some dramatic phenomena, such as the generation of magnetically trapped electrons, are predicted at a very high level of roughness.