The modification effects of ytterbium(Yb), Na_3PO_4 and Yb + Na_3PO_4 on primary Mg_2Si phase in Mg-4Si alloys were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD), optical microscopy(OM), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS) analysis in this work. The results indicate that the morphology of the primary Mg_2Si phase apparently changes from coarse dendrites to fine dispersive polygonal particles and the mean size decreases from 276.6 μm to 7.1 μm, with combined modification of 0.8wt.% Yb and 2.64 wt.% Na_3PO_4. Such a morphological evolution results in improvement in the ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the alloys as compared to the base alloy. This may be attributed to the formation of the YbP particles that acted as the heterogeneous nucleation substrates for the primary Mg_2Si particles, resulting in a refined distribution of these precipitates. The results of XRD examination show that there was no reaction between Si and Yb or Na_3PO_4. Solo addition of Yb or Na_3PO_4 into the melt has no real modification effect on the microstructure, but the primary Mg_2Si particles and α-Mg phases become coarser than that in the unmodified alloy. The modification effects of ytterbium (Yb), Na_3PO_4 and Yb + Na_3PO_4 on primary Mg_2Si phase in Mg-4Si alloys were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis in this work. The results that the morphology of the primary Mg_2Si phase apparently changes from coarse dendrites to fine dispersive polygonal particles and the mean size decreases from 276.6 μm to 7.1 μm, with combined modification of 0.8 wt. % Yb and 2.64 wt.% Na_3PO_4. Such a morphological evolution results in improvement in the ultimate tensile strength and elongation of the alloys as compared to the base alloy. This may be attributed to the formation of the YbP particles that acted as the heterogeneous nucleation substrates for the primary Mg_2Si particles, resulting in a refined distribution of these precipitates. The results of XRD examination show that there was no reaction between Si and Yb or Na_3PO _4. Solo addition of Yb or Na_3PO_4 into the melt has no real modification effect on the microstructure, but the primary Mg_2Si particles and α-Mg phases become coarser than that in the unmodified alloy.