Nickel or copper electroless metallization of polymers needs the grafting of a catalyst (palladium in the Pd(0) oxidation state) on the substrate surface to be coated. Our previous works on this topic [1-5] have allowed to develop a simple, tin-free method to attach Pd(+2) species from a palladium chloride (PdCl2) solution on any insulating surface and subsequently to reduce them, in the wet way, into the Pd(0) oxidation state. This Pd(0) state of the catalyst allows an instantaneous initiation of the Ni or Cu deposit by immersion in a plating bath. As palladium is an expensive chemical, it appears interesting to replace it by Ni(0) or Cu(0) species which are catalysts of their own ion reduction. Concing the direct Ni electroless plating, the polymer surface (PI) was made catalytic for the electroless process by deposition (spincoating or dipping) of an ultra-thin film of an organic nickel salt in an alcoholic solution. The chemical reduction of this salt, checked by XPS, was performed by chemical or photochemical ways and by plasma. Under these conditions, the initiation, by autocatalysis, of the Ni film deposition in an industrial plating bath was immediate i.e. without any initiation time. The film obtained was homogeneous, dense, bright, well-adhering up to thicknesses reaching 3 μm.