Fe-Ga alloy, which was a new type of magnetostrictive material with high magnetostriction, low hysteresis, high tensile strength and good machinability, has been widely studied. However, the magnetostrictive properties of the practically prepared Fe-Ga alloys were quite small at present. In order to improve magnetostrictive properties of the Fe-Ga alloy, the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_x (x=0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0) alloys were prepared by non--consumable vacuum arc melting furnace using high purity elements under a protective argon atmosphere. The crystal structures and surface morphologies of the alloys were intensively studied by X--ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy—dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The magnetostriction coefficients of the alloys were measured by means of the resistance strain method. The results showed that Fe₈₃Ga₁₇ alloy is composed only of a single phase of A2 with bcc structure. However, the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_x alloys are composed of the A2 phase and a small amount of CeFe₂ secondary phase with MgCu₂ structure except the alloy with x=0.2, which is composed only of a single phase of A2. Furthermore, the microstructure of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇ alloy presents the equiaxial morphology with coarse grains. However, the microstructure of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_0.8 alloy is a columnar structure with fine grains. Compared with the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇ alloy, the magnetostriction coefficients of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_x alloys are increased significantly except the alloy with x=0.2. The magnetostriction coefficient of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_0.2 alloy (81×10^-6) is slightly smaller than that of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇ alloy (84×10^-6). With the increase of the rare earth Ce content, the magnetostriction coefficients of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_x alloys increase firstly and then decrease. When x=0.8, the maximum magnetostriction coefficient of 356×10^-6 is obtained at the magnetic field of 557 kA/m.For the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_x alloys except the alloy with x=0.2, the noticeable increase of the magnetostriction coefficients derives from the following reasons: (1) the secondary phase of CeFe₂ with MgCu₂ structure appears and increases with the increase of the rare earth Ce content in the alloys. (2) the preferred orientation along <100>of A2 phase of the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_x alloy is more favorable to the increase of magnetostriction coefficient of Fe-Ga alloy. As for the Fe₈₃Ga₁₇Ce_0.2 alloy, the decrease of magnetostriction coefficient is attributed to the fact that the rare earth Ce dissolves in the Fe-Ga alloy and forms the solid solution alloy.