A hydroxyapatite (HA) film was deposited on laser gas nitriding (LGN) NiTi alloy substrate using pulsed laser deposition technique. TiN dendrite prepared by LGN provided a higher number of nucleation sites for HA film deposition, which resulted in that a lot number of HA particles were deposited on TiN dendrites. Moreover, the rough LGN surface could make the interface adhesive strength between HA film and substrate increase as compared with that on bare NiTi substrate. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.