The work aims to improve the hardness and wear resistance of substrate surface by preparing Fe-Cr-C alloy coating on Q235 steel with plasma cladding. The best process parameters were determined by orthogonal test, the microstructure and phase composition of the cladding coating were investigated by SEM, EDS and XRD, and the microhardness and the wear resistance were tested by hardness micrometer and friction wear testing machine. The working current and feeding speed had the most significant effect on the hardness and wear mass of cladding coating. The optimum combination of process parameters included working current of 110 A, scanning speed of 110 mm/min, powder feeding speed of 6 r/min, overlap rate of 40% and ionic gas flow of 1.0 L/h. In addition, the hard phase of the cladding coating was (Cr,Fe)7C3 and the remaining included γ-Fe, (Fe,Cr), (Fe,Ni), (Fe,C), (Fe,Ni)23C6, Cr7C3, Ni3Si, Fe3Mo and Fe2Nb. The average microhardness of the specimen with the optimum process parameters reached 545.1HV0.5, which was enhanced 3 times over that of the Q235 substrate. After 5 hours of friction and wear test, the wear mass was 0.25 g, 2/3 less than that of the substrate. The wear volume was 45.09 mm3, about 1/3 of the substrate. The wear rate was 1.22×10-4 mm3/(N?m), about 1/3 of the substrate. The coefficient of friction was 0.23, about 1/2 of the substrate. The hardness and wear resistance of the Fe-Cr-C alloy coating prepared on Q235 steel by plasma cladding technology are improved obviously.