The work aims to improve the surface quality of nodular cast iron by face milling and the service life of tool. As for the large-scale face milling of engine case and cylinder head with high power density, the high surface quality, high machining efficiency and longer tool life were required. The effects of number of cutting edges on the cutting performance, tool wear and surface morphology in face milling of nodular cast iron were studied by the tool path calculation and the cutting test. The surface morphology was characterized by the fractal dimension and the surface roughness. From the analysis of tool path, the inclination between cutting direction and feeding direction changed continuously during milling and the surface morphology of different positions and directions on the milling surface was also different, thus leading to different roughness values. The effect of number of cutting edges on the surface geometry at different positions and directions was studied through the milling test. It was found that with fold increase of cutting edge number, the cutting force increased, the tool wear amount was reduced by 36.5%, the surface roughness value was reduced by 39.2%, and the surface contour fractal dimension value increased by 4.8%. Increasing the number of cutting edges can reduce the cutting force and tool wear of each tooth significantly and increase the tool life, reduce the surface roughness and increase the fractal dimension. The increase of the number of cutting edges makes the surface quality better and the surface contour structure more complex.