The performance of protective thin films is clearly influenced by their microstructure. The objective of this work is to study the influence of the structure of TiC/a-C nanocomposite coatings with a-C contents ranging from ~ 0% to 100% on their mechanical and tribological properties measured by ultramicroindentation and pin-on-disks tests at ambient air, respectively. The microstructure evolves from a polycrystalline columnar structure consisting of TiC crystals to an amorphous and dense TiC/a-C nanocomposite structure when the amount of a-C is increased. The former samples show high hardness, moderate friction and high wear rates, while the latter ones show a decrease in hardness but an improvement in tribological performance. No apparent direct correlation is found between hardness and wear rate, which is controlled by the friction coefficient. These results are compared to the literature and explained according to the different film microstructures and chemical bonding nature. The film stress has also been measured at the macro and micro levels by the curvature and Williamson–Hall methods respectively. Other mechanical properties of the coating such as resilience and toughness were evaluated by estimating the H3/E⁎2 and H/E⁎ ratios and the percentage of elastic work (We). None of these parameters showed a tendency that could explain the observed tribological results, indicating that for self-lubricant nanocomposite systems this correlation is not so simple and that the assembly of different factors must be taken into account.