A high-resolution random-modulation continuous wave lidar for surface detection using a semiconductor laser diode is presented. The laser diode is intensity modulated with the pseudorandom binary sequence. Its enhanced resolution is achieved via interpolation and a novel front-end analog technique, lowering the requirement of the analog-to-digital converter sampling rate and the associated circuitry. Its mathematical model is presented, including the derivation of the signal-to-noise ratio and the distance standard deviation. Analytical and experimental results demonstrate its capability to achieve distance accuracy of less than 2 cm within 2.6 ms acquisition time, over distances ranging from 1 to 12 m. The laser diode emits 1.4 mW of optical power at a wavelength of 635 nm.