Southampton had little trouble disposing of Ian Holloway's disjointed team once they had gone ahead in the 16th minute.
Leicester had an early chance when new signing Steven Howard had a close-range header cleared from the line, but it was all Southampton once Surman had put them ahead.
The England Under-21 midfielder skilfully lifted the ball away from Richard Stearman before shooting across goalkeeper Paul Henderson and into the corner of the net.
Another new Leicester signing, Barry Hayles, almost equalised a minute later but failed to control from six yards and allowed Southampton goalkeeper Kelvin Davis to recover.
French full-back Vignal was booked in the 34th minute for a foul but two minutes later he was celebrating.
Vignal took a free-kick from fully 35 yards and the last touch appeared to be that of Stearman with a slight deflection which provided Southampton with their second goal.
Angry Holloway sent on Andy King and Bruno N'Gotty at the start of the second half in a bid to pep his midfield and for a time Leicester gave as good as they got without threatening the Southampton goal.
Davis did not have to make a single serious save and it was Southampton who should have gone further in front.
Adam Hammill should have done better with a diving header after 51 minutes and, in the 63rd minute, Grzegorz Rasiak had a header blocked on the line from Surman's cross.
Leicester attempted to stage a recovery near the end and Southampton's most impressive player, Youssef Safri, was booked for time wasting in the dying seconds, but Southampton deserved their win.