In order to investigate the role of amorphous SiO2 particles in corrosion and wear resistance of Ni-based metal matrix composite alloying layer, the amorphous nano-SiO2 particles reinforced Ni-based composite alloying layer has been prepared by double glow plasma alloying on AISI 316L stainless steel surface, where Ni/amorphous nano-SiO2 was firstly predeposited by brush plating. The composition and microstructure of the nano SiO2 particles reinforced Ni-based composite alloying layer were analyzed by using SEM, TEM and XRD. The results indicated that the composite alloying layer consisted of g-phase and amorphous nano-SiO2 particles, and under alloying temperature (1000 degrees C) condition, the nano-SiO2 particles were uniformly distributed in the alloying layer and still kept the amorphous structure. The corrosion resistance of composite alloying layer was investigated by an electrochemical method in 3.5% NaCl solution. Compared with single alloying layer, the amorphous nano-SiO2 particles slightly decreased the corrosion resistance of the Ni-Cr-Mo-Cu alloying layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the passive films formed on the composite alloying consisted of Cr2O3, MoO3, SiO2 and metallic Ni and Mo. The dry wear test results showed that the composite alloying layer had excellent friction-reduced property, and the wear weight loss of composite alloying layer was less than 60% of that of Ni-Cr-Mo-Cu alloying layer. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.