Ceramic thin films have been widely used to protect the metal substrate as coatings in the past years. In order to improve the poor corrosion resistance of AZ31 magnesium alloy, the study in this paper used the electron beam evaporation method to prepare ceramic PVD films on its surface with TiO2 and Al2O3 as donors, respectively. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and Xray diffraction (XRD) were used to investigate the surface morphology, composition and microstructure of the thin films. Both films deposited on AZ31 took on compact top surface morphologies and grew as amorphous structures on substrate. AES test not only showed that films compositions deviated the standard stoichiometric ratios, but also found that element Mg diffused into films and existed as magnesium oxide in the TiOx film as well as the AlOx film. In the electrochemical corrosion test, the AlOx coating on AZ31 exhibited the largest electrochemical impedance in a 3.5 % NaCl solution. But it did not show better corrosion resistance than others for the poorer adhesion. Even if its thickness was small, the TiOx coating on AZ31 exhibited the best corrosion resistance in this study. According to the observation and analysis, the damage of these films on AZ31 in aggressive solutions was mainly due to the existence of pores, microcracks, vacancies and poor adhesion between coating and substrate. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.