Carbon nanofiber film was formed on bulk pure titanium via hybrid surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT). The microstructure of the sample was investigated by SEM, TEM, and RAMAN characterization. The CNFs are extremely long and uniform, exhibiting a high degree of uniformity of size of about 20 nm. The possible growth mechanism was discussed. SMAT Ti played the role of catalyst and substrate during synthesizing process. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.