A general theoretical approach to double photoemission from solid surfaces is formulated in terms of two-electron Green functions and two-electron states. By incorporating the screened Coulomb interaction between the two outgoing electrons in a dynamically screened effective one-electron potential, approximate expressions for the two-photoelectron current are derived, which essentially consist of elements well-known from one-electron photoemission theory.@2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.