Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys, in the current era of persistently growing engineering demands, have become the most promising materials finding widespread industrial applications. Numerous processes are available for surface protection of Mg and its alloys to potentially minimize corrosion damage. The micro arc oxidation (MAO), a fairly recent and eco-friendly coating process, emerged as a novel means to provide an adherent, hard, scratch-resistant, wear-resistant, and corrosion-resistant coatings on Mg alloys. However, the successful utilization of such coatings demands a thorough understanding of the influence of a relatively large number of process parameters such as electrolytic composition, presence of insoluble additives in the electrolyte, electrical parameters employed, and the composition of the Mg alloy substrate on the corrosion resistance. The detailed influence of all the above parameters on the corrosion behavior of Mg alloys is critically reviewed and presented in this article. In addition, this article also reviews the recent trends in terms of duplexing the MAO process using different techniques/processes such that the composite coatings are produced with enhanced corrosion resistance. © 2014 The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.