The work aims to study the effect of rare earth cerium on the surface microstructure, deposition rate and corrosion resistance of Ni-P coatings and improve the deposition rate to enhance the surface quality and corrosion resistance of coatings. Ni-P alloy coatings with rare earth cerium were prepared on the surface of 50 steel by acid electroless plating. The effect of the amount of rare earth cerium on the surface morphology and properties of Ni-P alloy coatings was studied. The surface morphology of the alloy coating was observed by metallographic microscope, and the deposition rate was calculated. The hardness of the alloy coating was measured by HV-1000Z microhardness tester. The corrosion resistance of the alloy coating in 5wt% NaCl and 10wt% NaOH solution was tested by uniform corrosion full immersion test. When the addition of cerium was 40 mg/L, the coating had fine, uniform, smooth and compact structure and the deposition rate reached the maximum of 10.4 mg/(cm2?h). With the increase of rare earth cerium content, the hardness of the coating increased obviously. When the concentration of rare earth cerium was 60 mg/L, the maximum hardness reached 487.2HV, increasing by 13.5%. The corrosion resistance of Ni-P alloy coatings in 5wt% NaCl and 10wt% NaOH solutions showed that the corrosion rate of the coatings without cerium was the highest. The corrosion rate of the coatings with rare earth cerium decreased firstly and then increased. When the concentration of rare earth cerium was 40 mg/L, the corrosion rate of the coatings was the lowest. Therefore, rare earth cerium can significantly improve the surface quality of the coating, and enhance the deposition rate, hardness and corrosion resistance of the coating.