By adding rare earth alloy and cerium oxide, the effect of rare earths on tribological properties of nickel-base alloy layer was studied to approach the possibility of applying rare earths to Ni-base thermal spray-welding coating. Wear test results showed that the wear rates of the nickel-base coating without rare earths were quite high, and the load bearing capacity of coating was low, in contrast, the wear rates of the coating with rare earths were low and the coating had higher load bearing capacity. The results show that rare earths can refine the structure of nickel-base alloy, improve the interface of the coating and substrate.