The influence of five variables (i.e. deposition temperature, time, bath pH, and concentrations of Cr3+ compound (KCr(SO4)(2)) and H3PO4) on the preparation of Cr3+ coating on Al 6063 alloy was investigated using AC impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in 3.5 wt% NaCl. The optimal conditions were determined by AC impedance spectroscopy. The results indicated that the formation and quality of the coating were very sensitive to the deposition bath pH. A mechanism was proposed to explain the results. A simple model was derived and experimentally tested in terms of an equivalent circuit. Good agreement was found between the model predictions and the experimental results. The morphologies of the coated and uncoated electrodes were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the results also support the proposed surface model.