Abstract Dry sliding wear behaviour of cenosphere reinforced aluminum syntactic foam having density of 1.9 g/cc (around 30% porosity) has been studied using a pin-on-disc apparatus at load range of 1–5 kg and sliding velocity of 2–4 m/s. Coefficient of friction and wear rate of the syntactic foam has been compared with that of 10 wt% SiC reinforced aluminum composite. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to characterize the microstructure and the worn surface for examining the wear mechanism. The craters on the specimen surface due to presence of cenosphere play important role in the wear process.