A bright electroless Ni-P deposition on AM50 magnesium alloy in a sulfate plating bath was proposed by using direct plating process with non-chromate pretreatment. The electroless Ni-P plating on AM50 magnesium alloy has an admirable appearance and good adhesion. The results indicate that the electroless Ni-P deposition with non-chromate pretreatment has better adhesion than that of zinc immersion coating. Anodic polarization curves indicate that the electroless Ni-P deposition obtained from the sulfate bath has similar corrosion-resistance to that obtained from basic nickel carbonate bath. The deposition process generates less pollutant by a non-chromate plating bath and is suitable for the magnesium alloys manufacture because of its low cost. The hardness of the electroless Ni-P plated AM50 is about HV 720.6 and HV 969.7 after heat treatments at 180 ℃ for 2 h. The wear resistance of Ni-P plated magnesium alloy specimens is about 5 to 9 times as high as that of bare magnesium alloys.