A microwave free-space reflection method for determining the complex permittivity of planar dielectric materials is demonstrated. The method makes use of the measurement of the near-field microwave reflection coefficient of a metal-backed sample. The modeling of the structure and its calibration are based on geometrical optics considering spherical electromagnetic waves propagating through the material. The technique that presents a number of features such as low-cost, compactness, robustness, and reliability is a good candidate for industrial applications. As a demonstration, dielectric parameters extraction of building materials is experimentally demonstrated for wireless local area network operations in the 2.45- and 5-GHz bands.