To protect steel against environmental attack, zinc-iron alloy deposition is used. Search for a non-cyanide plating bath resulted in the development of sulphate bath. Current efficiency, throwing power and Hull cell studies were used to optimise a plating bath. The optimized plating bath composition is zinc sulphate 0.05M, ferrous ammonium sulphate 0.01M, sodium sulphate 20 g L-1, boric acid 30 g L-1, methanol 0.12M, triethanolamine 0.2M, ascorbic acid 2.5 mM and sodium lauryl sulphate 0.06M. Matte white deposits were obtained in the current density range of 2-3 Adm(-2).