Corrosion resistance is one of the essential factors in metal selection and can be enhanced greatly by coatings. The corrosion resistance of the electroless nickel–phosphorus coatings on low-carbon steels has been studied in this research.The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) have been used to characterize the morphologies and compositions of the coatings.The corrosion behaviour of coated carbon steel has been evaluated bypotentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods. Results show that the highest corrosion resistance of the coated substrate by the Ni‒P nano-structured coatingis achieved after heat treatment at 300°C.