In this paper, pulsed arc ion plating was applied for preparing Ti–Al–N coatings. The effects of different process parameters on the structure and corrosion resistance properties of Ti–Al–N coating were studied by changing the temperature. The microstructures, morphology features and the corrosion resistance of the different temperatures of Ti–Al–N coating were investigated to simulate the corrosion conditions of seawater. All the samples (prepared at [Formula: see text]C, [Formula: see text]C, [Formula: see text]C and [Formula: see text] were measured in 3.5[Formula: see text]wt.% NaCl solution at [Formula: see text]C and characterized by potentiodynamic polarization curves, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The corrosion resistance of carbon steel was improved by the coating modification. The results showed that the sample prepared at [Formula: see text]C possesses excellent corrosion resistance where corrosion current density can only reach to 11.176[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]A/cm2, Meanwhile, SEM images also revealed that the microstructure of the sample is much smoother and nearly no defects can be observed.