The concept of catalytic combustion in spark ignition engines has been tried by various researches which offers improved thermal efficiency and reduced exhaust emissions due to oxidation of fuels with aid of catalyst. In this present investigation experiments were conducted in a single cylinder, four stroke spark ignition engine. The piston top and cylinder head are coated with catalytic materials such as copper, chromium and nickel using plasma technique. The performance, emission and combustion characteristics of the engine coated with catalytic materials are studied and are compared with the standard engine. The result indicates that copper coated engine has 20.12 % higher brake thermal efficiency compare to standard engineat higher loads. The catalyst coated on the combustion chamber surface reduces hydrocarbon and CO emissions.It was observed that a slightly increases in NOx emissions at all load conditions when catalysts were coated. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2011.