"on a surface level" is correct and usable in written English. You can use it to describe something that is superficial or only apparent without fully understanding it. Example: On a surface level, the argument seems compelling, but it does not hold up to more thorough scrutiny.
A HOUSE divided, two self-described families laying claim to the honored legacy of one: on a surface level, the competing arrivals of the Bleecker Street Opera and the Amore Opera could be the stuff of a libretto.
It's entirely possible to appreciate the first episode of the show on a surface level: The pilot (which is the only one ABC has released to the media) is a polished, entertaining and promising half-hour of comedy about a well-to-do American family.
Sometimes people just read it on a surface level.
It looks like that on a surface level, but I think I don't sell against weaknesses.
On a surface level, those who backed Clinton did so largely out of a combination of familiarity and fatalism.
"If you maybe just listen to it on a surface level, it's like: 'Oh, there's the reggaeton song and then there's the punk song,'" Jaar says.
But he is kind of aware of it, but only on kind of a surface level.
Happy Couple confronts the way we're trained as a culture to view images of this nature, focusing on a surface-level reading of the works; never questioning and always idealizing this form of intimacy.
MW2 A relationship and dialogue with a woman with limited Swedish skills was more likely to remain on a surface-level with less room for individuality and deeper reflections than with a patient fluent in Swedish.
"There was a guy I wanted to ask out, and I think on a completely surface level the Getty made me seem cool," she said.
On a purely surface level, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim delivers exactly what it advertises.
Ludwig does not simply clarify my doubts with English writing, it enlightens my writing with new possibilities
Simone Ivan Conte
Software Engineer at Adobe, UK