In this study, magnesium alloy (AZ61) was immersed in vanadium containing bath with various conditions, such as the vanadium concentration, immersion time and bath temperature. The results indicate that increase of both vanadium concentration and immersion time produces a thicker conversion layer. However, when immersion time is too long, it will worsen the corrosion resistance due to the increasing of the crack density. The experimental parameter of bath temperature has no significant effect on corrosion resistance. Our results demonstrated that the better corrosion resistance coating can be obtained when the samples are submitted to an immersion in the conversion bath containing NaVO3 with concentration of 30 g l(-1) for 10 min at 80 degrees C. The presented conversion treatment has its potential to replace the chrome-based conversion coating treatment. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.