We have compared resistance switching of NiO films deposited on Pt and SrRuO3 (SRO): unipolar switching in Pt/NiO/Pt and bipolar switching in Pt/NiO/SRO. Linear fitted current-voltage curves and capacitance-voltage results show that on- and off-states conductions in unipolar switching are dominated by inductive Ohmic behavior and Poole–Frenkel effect, respectively. However, the conductions of on- and off-states in bipolar switching follow capacitive Ohmic behavior and Schottky effect, respectively. Therefore, we infer that the mechanisms of the unipolar and bipolar switching behaviors in NiO films are related with changes in bulk-limited filamentary conduction and interfacial Schottky barrier, respectively.