Friction and wear performance of piston ring and liner has important effects on internal combustion engine performance, fuel economy and reliability. The tribological properties of piston ring and liner were tested by disc friction and wear tester. The friction characteristics of piston rings were investigated with untreated, chrome plated and PVD surfaces. The friction coefficient, surface friction morphology and wear amount were analyzed in detail. The results show that chromium plating and PVD can effectively reduce the pair friction coefficient of piston ring surface compared with untreated surface. The change of pair friction coefficient with time is stable after PVD treatment. The untreated surface presents abrasive wear characteristics, the chromium plated surface presents polishing wear characteristics, and the PVD surface presents plastic deformation characteristics. In addition, both the chromium plating and PVD treatment can reduce the wear of piston ring, but the chromium plating will increase the wear of matching cylinder liner. Accordinly, the PVD piston rings show the best tribological properties.