The present invention provides a slurry composition and method for polishing organic polymer-based ophthalmic substrates. The slurry composition according to the invention includes an aqueous dispersion of abrasive particles and a pyrrolidone compound. The abrasive particles can be alumina, zirconia, silica, titania or combinations of the foregoing. Slurry compositions according to the invention can be used to polish all types of organic polymer-based ophthalmic substrates, but are particularly useful for polishing organic polymer-based ophthalmic substrates having an index of refraction greater than 1.498 because they remove such materials at a greater efficiency than conventional slurry compositions without detrimentally affecting the quality of the resulting surface.