A superhydrophobic surface with chemical and long-time stability was fabricated on AZ31 magnesium alloy in a single-step via hydrothermal synthesis to improve corrosion resistance. The as-prepared surface repelled aqueous solutions with a static water contact angle of 156.7 degrees, and its superhydrophobicity was maintained for more than one year. The superhydrophobic surface showed anti-icing performance in a cold environment. The electrochemical measurement showed the superhydrophobic coating surface improved corrosion resistance for the Mg alloy substrate in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. In this study, we sought higher efficiency and environmental friendliness to enhance the prospects for application of magnesium alloys. (C) The Author(s) 2016. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All rights reserved.