This paper deals with nitrogen diffusion velocity and activation energy in diffusion layer and compound layer in ion-nitriding, and presents observations on the effect of deformation according to nitriding methods. During the experiment the activation energy and diffusion velocity of nitrogen have been examined in S45C steel samples. It is found that the results of an investigation correspond with the theoretical data and the ion-nitriding method offers less deformation than conventional salt-bath method of nitriding.