The effect of the noble and heavy metal ion brighteners in acidic electroless nickel solution on properties of coatings including hardness, bonding force, porosity and corrosion resistance were investigated. These brighteners play a dominant role in coating structure from the measurements of AFM, XRD and XPS. The results show that the noble metal ion brighteners can greatly improve the electroless nickel coating performance, for example, reducing the surface coarseness and making the layer column smaller. Moreover, the amorphous structure get more remarkable due to presence of noble and heavy metal ion brighteners. XPS results reveal that Ni element exists in the form of Ni0 and Ni2+, while P exists in the form of negative ion and PO43-. So the brighteners are propitious to form protective film of Ni3(PO4)2.