The work aims to obtain the CrSiN coatings with excellent comprehensive performance by new coating preparation technology based on the fine-grained strengthening theory, and to study the effects of Si content on the microstructure, mechanical properties and wear resistance of the coatings. Four CrSiN coatings with different Si contents were prepared by plasma enhanced magnetron sputtering. The chemical composition, crystal structure, micromorphology and surface roughness of the coatings were characterized by EDS, XRD, FE-SEM and AFM, respectively. The micro-hardness, Young‘s modulus and adhesion of the coatings were measured by nano-indentation and nano-scratch, respectively. The friction and wear behavior of the coatings was investigated by a friction and wear tester. The Si content of CrSiN coating increased with the increasing Si target power. CrSiN coatings mainly exhibited a cubic CrN phase, with no Si-containing phase detected. As the Si content increased gradually, the diffraction peak growing along CrN (111) plane was gradually weakened until disappeared, the microstructure of the coating gradually changed from loose triangular grains to compact and smooth composite structure consisting of CrN nano-crystals and Si3N4 amorphous, the surface roughness of the coating was significantly reduced, and the microhardness, Young‘s modulus, bonding force and wear resistance of the coating firstly increased and then decreased. The CrSiN coating with Si content of 18.5% has the best wear resistance, and its hardness, Young‘s modulus, bonding force and average friction coefficient are about 27 GPa, 327 GPa, 30 N and 0.289, respectively.