The anodization of ZK60 magnesium alloy in an alkaline electrolyte of 100 g/l NaOH + 20 g/l Na2B4O7 center dot 10H(2)O + 50 g/l C6H5Na3O7 center dot 2H(2)O + 60g/l Na2SiO3 center dot 9H(2)O was studied in this paper. The corrosion resistance of the anodic films was studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization techniques and the microstructure and composition of films were examined by SEM and XRD. The influence of anodizing time was studied and the results show that the anodizing time of 60 min is suitable for acquiring films with good corrosion resistance. The influence of current density on the corrosion resistance of anodizing films was also studied and the results show that the 2 film anodized at 20 mA/cm(2) has the optimum corrosion resistance. The film formed by anodizing in the alkaline solution with optimized parameters show superior corrosion resistance than that formed by the traditional HAE process. The XRD pattern shows that the components of the anodized film consist of MgO and Mg2SiO4. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.