The effect of powder-die wall friction during the compaction of pharmaceutical excipients has been investigated for three modes of lubrication: lubricated die, non-lubricated die and with the lubricant mixed with the powder. Coulomb friction is assumed and the wall friction coefficient was evaluated from the transmission ratio (applied pressure/transmitted pressure), the transfer ratio (radial pressure/axial pressure) and the aspect ratio (height/diameter of tablet). The friction coefficient of three pharmaceutical excipients was measured with respect to the relative density of the tablet by means of an instrumented press. It was found that the behaviour of the friction depends on the powder and the lubrication mode. Mixing the powder with a lubricant reduces the friction with respect to that of the lubricated die, but the evolution of the friction coefficient with the densification is different. The effect of the wall friction on the axial density distribution in the tablet was investigated by experiment and by modelling. The model was based on Janssen-Walker analysis coupled with the Heckel equation. For comparison, only the single action compaction in a non-lubricated die was considered. It was found that the measured and predicted axial density decrease from the top to the bottom of the tablet. Moreover, the predicted and measured density had the same tendency, but different values. However, the analysis should not be applied to the compaction of the powder mixed with lubricant because no physical parameter for this mode of lubrication is taken into account in the model.