Dissimilar metals TIG welding-brazing of aluminum alloy and non-coated stainless steel was investigated. The resultant joint was characterized in order to identify the phases and the brittle intermetaUic compounds (IMCs) in the interfacial layer by optical metalloscope (OM), wanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and the cracked joint was analyzed in order to understand the cracking mechanism of the joint. The results show that the microfusion of the stainless steel can improve the wetting and spreading of liquid aluminum base filler metal on the steel surface and the melted steel accelerates the formation of mass of brittle IMCs in the interracial layer, which causes the joint cracking badly. The whole interfacial layer is 5 - 7 μm thick and comprises approximately 5 μm-thickness reaction layer in aluminum side and about 2 μm-thickness diffusion layer in steel side. The stable Al-rich IMCs are formed in the interfaciallayer and the phases transfer from (Al + FeAl3) in aluminum side to (FeAl3+ Fe2Al5) and (α-Fe + FeAl) in steel side.