Nanometer TiN/AlN multilayers were prepared on silicon substrate by filtered vacuum arc deposition.The structures of the nanometer TiN/AlN multilayer were studied by using X-ray diffraction. The 12 nm TiN/AlN multiplayer is composed of cubic TiN structure and hexagonal wurzite AlN structure, but the 2 nm period multilayer is composed of face centered cubic structure TiN and AlN with strong (200) texture. The surface roughness, hardness and elastic modulus of multilayer are dependent on the period of multilayer. The hardness of the TiN/AlN multilayers is higher than that suggested by a simple rule of mixture. The peaking hardness of nanometer TiN/AlN multilayers at period of 2 nm is about 42 GPa, much higher than that of 12 nm. The wear resistance of the nanometer TiN/AlN multilayers was also studied.