An attempt has been made to develop an eco friendly trivalent chromium process as an alternate to hexavalent chrome plating for industrial steel components. Vicker's hardness and A.C impedance studies revealed that the coatings exhibit high hardness and good corrosion than mild steel in sea water medium. XRD and SEM results confirmed precipitation of chromium on iron matrix which improved the mechanical properties on the heat treated mild steel surface coated by trivalent chromium. © 2014 University of Manchester and the authors.