TiSiN–WS 2 hard-lubricant coatings were deposited on WC/TiC/Co cemented carbides by arc ion plating and middle-frequency magnetron sputtering. The microstructure, mechanical properties and tribological performance were examined. Results showed that WS 2 layer had (002) and (101) multi-orientation structure and TiN grains of TiSiN layer became bigger due to the annealing effect in deposition of WS 2 layer. As the thickness of WS 2 layer increased, hardness of TiSiN–WS 2 coatings decreased largely while the adhesive strength increased, which is mainly beneficial from the release of residual stress of TiSiN layer in deposition process of WS 2 layer and the low tensile stress caused by the lubricant effect of WS 2 in scratch test. The deposition of WS 2 layer on top of TiSiN layer significantly improved coatings’ tribological performance with lower friction coefficient, less adhesive materials and smaller wear rate of steel ball. Even after WS 2 layer was worn out, the friction coefficient was still lower than TiSiN coating, which is attributed to that WS 2 remaining in wear track still worked.