Vanadium aqueous compounds are considered as promising environmentally friendly inhibitors for heterogeneous aluminium alloys. In this study, mechanism of corrosion inhibition of AA6063 in alkaline media by vanadate inhibitors is presented. A combination of weight loss and open circuit potential measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to compare corrosion behavior of AA6063 alloy in aerated pH 10 0.05 M sodium chloride solutions in the absence and presence of 0.003 mol/l sodium orthovanadate. Tetrahedrally coordinated mono‐ and polyvanadates, that are main forms in such solutions, cause a decrease in corrosion current density and significantly increase amplitude of impedance spectra and impedance modulus |Z| values due to mixed cathodic‐anodic inhibition effect mainly associated with the formation of adherent surface film on cathodic and anodic intermetallic particles of alloy.