The influence of crystallization treatment on the structure, magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effect of Gd71Ni29 melt-spun ribbons has been investigated in detail. Annealing of the melt-spun samples at 610 K for 30 min, a majority phase with a Fe3C-type orthorhombic structure (space group, Prima) and a minority phase with a CrB-type orthorhombic structure (space group, Cmcm) were obtained in the amorphous matrix. The amorphous melt-spun ribbons undergo a second-order ferromagnetic to paramagnetic phase transition at 122 K. For the annealed samples, two magnetic phase transitions caused by amorphous matrix and Gd3Ni phases occur at 82 and 100 K, respectively. The maximum magnetic entropy change (-Delta S-M)(max) is 9.0 J/(kg.K) (5T) at 122 K for the melt-spun ribbons. The values of (-Delta S-M)(max) in annealed ribbons are 1.0 and 5.7 J/(kg.K), corresponding to the two adjacent magnetic transitions.