Based upon empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method and Hilbert spectrum, a method for fault diagnosis of roller bearing is proposed. The orthogonal wavelet bases are used to translate vibration signals of a roller bearing into time-scale representation, then, an envelope signal can be obtained by envelope spectrum analysis of wavelet coefficients of high scales. By applying EMD method and Hilbert transform to the envelope signal, we can get the local Hilbert marginal spectrum from which the faults in a roller bearing can be diagnosed and fault patterns can be identified. Practical vibration signals measured from roller bearings with out-race faults or inner-race faults are analyzed by the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method is superior to the traditional envelope spectrum method in extracting the fault characteristics of roller bearings. The orthogonal wavelet bases are used to translate vibration signals into a time-scale representation, then, an envelope signal can be obtained by envelope spectrum analysis of wavelet coefficients of high scales. By applying EMD method and Hilbert transform to the envelope signal, we can get the local Hilbert marginal spectrum from which the faults in a roller bearing can be diagnosed and fault patterns can be identified . Practical results for measuring bearings from roller bearings with out-race faults or inner-race faults are analyzed by the proposed method. The results show that the proposed method is superior to the traditional envelope spectrum method.