The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of several surface coating agents in preventing microleakage and increasing microhardness of light-cured glass ionomer restoration. 50 and 25 sound molar teeth were used for the microleakage test and microhardness test respectively. Data were analyzed statistically using Kruskal-Wallis and/or Mann-Whitney test. The results of the present study were as follows: 1. The effect of surface coating in reducing microleakage was proven only at the gingival margin of restorations with statistical significance(p<.05). 2. The distribution of microleakage score at gingival margin was shown to be better than that of occlusal margin in general but with no statistically significant differences(p>.05). 3. No statistically significant differences in microhardness could be found between groups (p>.05) regardless of depth of measurement. 4. Under the present experimental conditions, the types or application of surface coating agents did not impose any significant effect on microhardness of glass ionomer restorative material whereas the protective effect of surface coating in reducing microleakage was partly proven.