TiN coating on tool steel has been widely used for the improvement of durability of tools. In this work, radical nitriding(RN) is carried out on SKD61 at $450^{circ}C$ for 5 hours in the ammonia gas pressure $2.7{ imes}10^3;Pa$. The TiN coating is carried out by arc ion plating(AIP) with the process parameters: arc power 150 A, bias voltage -50V, coating time 40 minutes and nitrogen gas pressure $4{ imes}10^3;Pa$. Hardness, elastic modulus, friction coefficient and adhesion of TiN coating on substrates of both TiN/SKD61 and TiN/RN SKD61 coatings are investigated comparatively. The primary crystalline faces of TiN surface are(200) and(111) for TiN/SKD61 and TiN/RN SKD61 respectively. In addition to the primary phase, Fe phase exists in TiN/SKD61 coating, but not in TIN/RN SKD61. The hardness of TiN/RN SKD61 is about 700 Hv, 250 Hv(56%) higher than that of TiN/SKD61 at the near interface of TiN and substrates. At the TiN surface, hardness of TiN/RN SKD61 is 2,149 Hv, 71 Hv(3%) higher than that of TiN/SKD61. The elastic modulus of TiN coating is improved to 26.7 GPa(6%) by radical nitriding. The adhesion is improved by the RN coating showing no spalling. buckling and chipping on the scratch test track which are shown on the non-RN TiN/SKD61.