Balanced and unbalanced magnetron sputtering was employed to deposit nc-TiC/a-C nanocomposite coatings with hydrogenated or hydrogen-free matrix. EMPA and XPS determined the coatings particles volume fraction (V_F). Nanoindentations and tribological tests found that the coatings exhibit a hardness (H) of 5~36 GPa, a Young’s modulus (E) of 55~335 GPa, an H/E ratio of 0.07~0.15 and a friction coefficient as low as 0.06. TEM observations and energy-filtered TEM together with EELS were employed to characterize the coating nanostructure (particle size, distribution, C sp³/sp² ratio). The coatings nanostructure was manipulated during deposition by changing deposition pressure, applied bias and chamber magnetic environment, allowing, for instance, a variation in size of the TiC particles between 2 and 20 nm that affects the coating properties. The influence of the hydrogen content on the coatings performance has been inspected because of the thermal stability of the coating.