Titanium carbonitride (TiCN) and titanium nitride (TiN) were deposited on steel substrates XC48 using magnetron sputtering technique. The hardness of both films increases with the substrate bias voltage and that of TiCN is always greater. The electrochemical behaviors of the deposited films in NaCl 3.5% water solution were studied by using potentiodynamic polarization and optical microscope. The results unambiguously show that the coated XC48 steel displays a better resistance to uniform and pitting corrosion than the bare material and that coating with TiCN enhances furthermore this performance. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.