The influences of four factors including NaOH concentration, sodium phytate concentration, treatment time and duty cycle on properties of anodic coatings formed on Mg-1.0Ca alloy were systematically investigated using the Taguchi experiment. The effect order of factors on the corrosion resistance is ranked as sodium phytate concentration > treatment time > duty cycle > NaOH concentration, while the sequence on the coating thickness is sodium phytate concentration > treatment time > NaOH concentration > duty cycle. The increasing sodium phytate concentration is benefit for the corrosion resistance of the anodized magnesium alloys by developing thick coating with stable composition. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.