Objective To study the formation mechanism and the change of wear resistance performance of micro-arc oxidation ceramic coatings on tantalum under different experimental circumstances. Methods Ceramic coating on the surface of tantalum metal was prepared by micro-arc oxidation technology. The surface profile of coating was studied by SEM. Moreover, the influence of experiment parameters like voltage, current and duty cycle, frequency on the abrasion resistance of ceramic coating was investigated in details. Results The best surface quality performance was observed under the set of parameters as follow: 400 V, 1000 Hz, 20 min; the best wear resistance performance was observed under the set of parameters: 350 V, 1000 Hz, 10 min. Conclusion The tantalum metal surface by micro-arc oxidation could obviously reduce the friction coefficient and improve the wear resistance of tantalum metal surface.