Mark Ramprakash missed out on a 100th first-class century but Mark Butcher shone with an unbeaten 189 against Yorkshire at the Oval.
Butcher, promoting himself to open the innings, became the 100th Surrey player to score a century against Yorkshire.
Surrey lost Ramprakash, Usman Afzaal and Alistair Brown in quick succession before Butcher and Matt Nicholson put on 203 as the hosts closed on 396-5.
Nicholson (103no) reached three figures from 119 balls with fifteen fours.
With all eyes on Ramprakash, his fellow ex-England batsman Butcher was quickly into his stride, showing exquisite timing.
He and Scott Newman shared an opening stand of 41 before Newman, looking to force off Tim Bresnan off the back foot, edged behind to Gerard Brophy for 21.
That brought Ramprakash to the wicket but he never appeared truly comfortable and shakily steered through to the third-man boundary with his first scoring shot before edging just short of Jaques Rudolph at first slip.
The 38-year-old rallied before lunch but, with the 13th ball after the break, he was surprised by the bounce generated by 18-year-old debutant Oliver Hannon-Dalby and edged to slip.
Looking to drive at a delivery that swung away, Deon Kruis nicked behind to Brophy and then Brown was trapped leg-before by the same man.
Surrey had collapsed to 121 for four, losing three wickets in 20 balls and scoring just nine runs, but Butcher continued to dominate the Yorkshire attack and went to a deserved fifty from 98 balls.
He shared a partnership of 72 with Jonathan Batty (26) before the latter was tempted to drive a ball that moved off the seam, and Joe Sayers did well to take the catch at slip.
Butcher went on to complete his century from 161 balls - his 38th in first-class cricket - in the 62nd over with a superb cover drive.
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