Amorphous Al-Mn coating was electrodeposited on NdFeB magnets from AlCl3-EMIC-MnCl2 ionic liquid with the pretreatment of anodic electrolytic etching in AlCl3-EMIC ionic liquid at room temperature. The microstructure, composition and phase constituents of the coatings were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The corrosion resistance of the coatings was tested by means of potentiodynamic polarization and immersion test in 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution. The results show that anodic electrolytic etching in AlCl3-EMIC ionic liquid is a satisfactory pretreatment to remove the surface oxide film and favor the adhesion of the Al-Mn alloy coating to the NdFeB substrate. The amorphous Al-Mn alloy coating provides sacrificial anodic protection for NdFeB. It exhibited good corrosion resistance and significantly reduced the corrosion current density of NdFeB by three orders of magnitude at potentiodynamic polarization. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.