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There are two primary objectives of this study to design the titanium-based novel ENi-P composite coatings on naval grade AH36 steel through Taguchi DOE with the addition of Zwitterionic surfactant and identify the most significant factor which contributes to the enhancement of microhardness in the fabricated coatings. The L9 composite coatings are developed by varying bath temperature, pH, wt% of C14-SB and TiO₂ nanoparticles in the electroless bath. Each coatings elemental composition is investigated using SEM and EDAX analysis. XRD peaks are matched with the peaks of Nickel, Phosphorous and Titanium contents in the deposits. The ANOVA and the S/N ratio were deduced and utilised to formulate the optimal combination of parameters for enhancing microhardness in the coatings. The predicted optimal coatings were validated with a confirmation run and achieved 54.66% microhardness …