In this study, electrodeposition of Ni-P composite coatings has been carried out to investigate the possibility of replacing hard chromium coatings. Therefore, electrodeposition of Ni-P based composite coating with different SiC particle size (50 nm, 100 nm and 500 nm) or B4C (500 nm) was performed. The coating's composition was evaluated by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), microhardness of the coatings was measured by Vickers indentor and polarization measurements were carried out to study the corrosion behavior of the coatings. The results showed that B4C particles can codeposit in higher percent respect to SiC ones. Ceramic particles increased microhardness of Ni-P coatings to 700HV0.01. The polarization behavior of all the coatings in 3.5% NaCl was similar in as plated state proving that particles did not hindered the passive behaviour. Finally, the effect of heat-treatment (at 400 ºC for 1 hour) on the coating's properties was studied to compare the contribution of particles and heat-treatment on mechanical and corrosion properties of the coatings. Heat-treatment increased the coating's microhardness and changed the anodic polarization behavior of the coatings respect to the as plated conditions. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. All rights reserved.