In a method and magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus to separate a signal component of a cerebrospinal fluid from other signal components in the acquisition of MR images of an examination subject, a first signal acquisition with spin echo-based signals is executed, in which the signal components of the cerebrospinal fluid and the other signal components have the same phase position, and a second signal acquisition with spin echo-based signals is then executed, in which the signal components of the cerebrospinal fluid and the other signal components have an opposite phase position. An MR image with signals of the other signal components is determined based on the two signal acquisitions with the signal component of the cerebrospinal fluid is significantly suppressed.