The source of the White Main is a wellspring located at 887 m above NN on the eastern slope of the Ochsenkopf.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the spring in 1785, but reckoned the Seehausbrunnen southeast of the Schneeberg as the source of the Main, for he wrote: "...the source of the Main, which rises close to the house here and where the stream here amounts to a no more than a tin washtub, ...".

After about 1.4 km (0.9 mi) it feeds a small lake near Karches in the municipality of Bischofsgrün.

At the far end it reaches a mill, the Glasermühle, where it is joined from the left by the Brombergsbach and, shortly thereafter, by the Lützelmain, also known as the Lützelmainbach.

The White Main now turns northwest, passes through the village of Frankenhammer before reaching Bad Berneck.

It then swings northwest and flows past Feuln, collecting the waters of the Feulnerbach; then the Veitsgraben near Ködnitz and the Mühlgraben.

It now runs in a southwesterly direction past Aichig, where it is fed by the Teufelsgraben, and enters Kulmbach.