A hand held surface cleaning apparatus has a fluid flow path extending from a dirty fluid inlet provided at a front end of the hand held surface cleaning apparatus to a clean air outlet, the fluid flow path including a separator and a suction motor, wherein the suction motor is positioned rearward of the dirty fluid inlet. A separation stage comprising the separator, a solid collection chamber in communication with a separated element outlet of the separator and a separated liquid reservoir in communication with the solid collection chamber is provided. The solid collection chamber is positioned rearward of the separated liquid reservoir and the separator is positioned rearward of the solid collection chamber.