Nanocrystalline MgH2 and MgH2-based composites with 25% (mass fraction) of Al, Ca, or CaH2 as an individual additive respectively were prepared by ball milling. The crystallite size and morphology of the as-milled powders were characterized and their hydrolysis behaviours were investigated in comparison with commercial polycrystalline MgH2. The results show that the crystallite size of both MgH2 and MgH2-based composites is reduced to less than 13 nm after milling for 15 h. Due to its enhanced specific surface area and unique nanocrystalline structure, the as-milled MgH2 shows much better hydrolysis kinetics than the commercial polycrystalline MgH2, with the hydrolysed fraction upon hydrolysing for 70 min enhances from 7.5% to about 25%. As compared with the as-milled MgH2, the MgH2-based composites with either CaH2 or Ca as an additive present further greatly improved hydrolysis kinetics, with the hydrolysed fraction for 80 min achieving about 76% and 62% respectively.However, the addition of Al doesnt show any positive effect on the improvement of the hydrolysis kinetics of MgH2.