Abstract: Rare earth elements Ce with different mass fractions were added to the ZK60 wrought magnesium alloy matrix. The microstructure evolution of rare earth Ce modified ZK60 wrought magnesium alloy was studied by means of metallography, SEM, EDS and XRD, and the modification mechanism was discussed. The results show that when Ce is increased from 0%to 0.9wt%, the grain size of the alloy is gradually decreased, the size is decreased from 88 μm to 51 μm, the tensile strength is increased from 104 MPa to 160 MPa, and the elongation is increased from 6%to 7%.When Ce increases to 1.2wt%, the grain size increases to 61 μm instead, and the metamorphism occurs; MgZn₂ can be used as the heterogeneous nucleation core of α-Mg; Ce, Mg and Zn combine to form Mg₄₂Zn₅₃Ce₅ compound pinned at the grain boundary, which is beneficial to reduce the grain size.