Sulfide layer with certain thickness was made on the nitrided surface of 16Mn steel by means of plasma S-C-N composite treatment. Under half lubricated condition, friction coefficient and wear loss of LY12 aluminum alloy were measured in sliding against samples of 16Mn treated by cubrizing and sulphiding respectively; In order to avoid the transfer of aluminum to the steel that lead to the inaccurate measurement of wear loss of carburized samples, Gr15 steel was adopted as counterpart face to measure the wear loss of them. SEM and EDAX were used for the morphological and chemical characterization of the wear surface and longitudinal cross-sections beneath sliding surface of LY12 aluminum alloy cirque and the wear tacks of the carburized samples and sulphided samples. Results show: The surface roughness,wear rate, average friction coefficient and magnitude of friction fluctuations of LY 12 aluminum alloy cirque sliding against sulphided sample were all lower than sliding against carburized sample; Compared with carburized layer, sulfide layer of 16Mn steel can not only efficiently prevent the occurrence of adhesion when sliding against LY12 aluminum alloy, but also greatly lower the wear loss when sliding against Grl 5 steel.