Abstract: The GCr15 bearing steel wire rod was spheroidizing annealed under different protective conditions and the oxidation and decarbonization behaviour was analyzed and compared. The results show that under the charcoal non-contact protection, the surface oxidation of the bearing steel wire rod was significantly reduced, but the decarbonization was increased. The total thickness of oxidation and decarbonization layer under the protection of charcoal was larger than that of non-charcoal, and the decarbonization layer was relatively thick with more charcoal. Under non-charcoal protection, the difference of total thickness of oxidation and decarbonization layer between with and without sealed cans was little.