In recent years, there have been great efforts focused on joining ceramics to metals to establish processes for a wide range of industrial uses. Several important problems, however, still remain unsolved. Among them, how to produce atomic bonds at ceramic/metal interfaces and how to minimize the residual stress due to large thermal expansion mismatch between two constituents are the most critical. The thermal expansion mismatch effect is a serious problem because, even if a strong interface could be achieved, joints with large residual stress are easily broken. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the magnitude of the residual stress. Some researchers have succeeded in achieving a strong joint between alumina and stainless steel by using a soft metallic interlayer. In this study, the effects of interlayers of nickel, copper and copper coated with nickel on the microstructure and shear strength of alumina ceramic and 1Cr18Ni9Ti stainless steel bonding with Ag-Cu-Ti filler metal were investigated. The results indicated that, when using copper as an interlayer, sufficient interfacial reaction between the ceramic and the filler metal could obtain. However, when using nickel as an interlayer, resulting in an insufficient reaction between the ceramic and the filler metal and the formation of large amount Ni₃Ti intermetallic compounds, and thus, the strength of the joint decreased heavily. It is very interesting that when using copper coated with Ni, the existence of the small amount of nickel didn't affect the activity of titanium in the filler metal, meanwhile, it decreased the effect of the filler metal on the solubility of copper. Compared with copper and Ni interlayer, this interlayer could reduce interfacial residual stress more effectively. And the shear strength of 109 MPa was obtained when the thickness of Cu was 0.2 mm coated with 30 μm thick nickel。