The nanocrystalline microstructure of the surface of 316 stainless steel (316SS) induced by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The technique of hydrogen embrittlement was first used to obtain the information of the brittleness cleavage plane. The effects of SMAT and the following annealing process on the corrosion behavior of 316SS were investigated by potentiodynamic polarization curves and potentiostatic critical pitting temperature measurements. The results demonstrated that the nanocrystalline layer with an average grain size of 19 nm was produced. However, there were lots of cracks on the surface, which led to the degradation in the corrosion resistance of 316SS after SMAT. Nevertheless, after annealing treatment, the corrosion resistance of the nanocrystalline surface had been improved greatly. The higher the annealing temperature, the better was the corrosion resistance. The nanocrystalline microstructure of the surface of 316 stainless steel (316SS) induced by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The technique of hydrogen embrittlement was first used to obtain the information of the brittleness cleavage plane. The effects of SMAT and the following annealing process on the corrosion behavior of 316SS were investigated by potentiodynamic polarization curves and potentiostatic critical pitting temperature measurements. The results demonstrated that the nanocrystalline layer with an average grain size of 19 However, there were lots of cracks on the surface, which led to the degradation in the corrosion resistance of 316SS after SMAT. Nevertheless, after annealing treatment, the corrosion resistance of the nanocrystalline surface had been improved greatly. The higher the annealing temperature, the better was the corrosion resistance