Based on impedance boundary condition, a method of moments solution for the electromagnetic scattering of three-dimensional target coated with anisotropic medium is presented.According to the surface equivalence principle, the scatters can be replaced by equivalent electric and magnetic current source expanded by Rao-Wilton-Glisson vector-basis functions. Using electric-field integral equation, Galerkin moment method can deal with the electromagnetic issues of arbitrary structural targets (surface open or closed) simply and effectively. Electromagnetic parameters of medium are characterized by the surface impedance matrix, to simulate the anisotropic materials. Several numerical examples of typical target coated with anisotropic media are presented, and the results are compared with the physical optics solution, reasonable analysis is given as well. By setting the surface impedance matrix, the issue can be degraded to isotropic medium coating case or perfectly electric conductor case, and the proposed algorithm is still efficient and accurate. Simulation analysis to the electromagnetic scattering of plasma coating space satellite is presented, which provides theoretical support for the radar stealth and shows the proposed algorithm's value for engineering applications. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:458–462, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25728