Titanium nitride coatings were deposited onto SUS304 stainless steel substrates pretreated by mechanical scrubbing, chemical etching at 50% HCl solution and Ar ion etching. Adhesion strength were measured by scratch tester and confirmed by SEM with EDS. Adhesion strength of Ar ion etched substrate was 10 to 15 times higher than that of mechanical scrubbed or chemical etched substrate. Ar ion etching brought about an uniform and fine spherical shaped surface, while chemical etching gave rise to a rough and irregular surface on SEM micrograph. It was suggested that higher adhesion strength might be caused by anchoring effect of Ar ion etched surface prior to TiN deposition.