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Background Due to the demographic ageing process and the increasing number of pre-frail and frail individuals, new lifestyle interventions to enhance the quality of life (QoL) in community-dwelling older adults are necessary. Therefore, we performed a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to compare effects of a lay-led home-based physical and nutritional intervention programme with social support alone on different QoL domains in community-dwelling pre-frail and frail older adults. Methods In this analysis within a RCT (12 weeks), lay volunteers visited one-on-one pre-frail or frail older adults at home twice a week. Participants in the physical training and nutritional intervention (PTN) group performed six strength exercises and discussed main nutritional issues during each visit. The social support (SOSU) group received home visits twice a week for social exchanges. The QoL was assessed with the WHOQOL-BREF and the WHOQOL-OLD instruments. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to examine differences between groups with baseline values as the covariate. Changes within groups were assessed with paired t-tests. Results Eighty participants (n = 39 in the PTN group and n = 41 in the SOSU group) were included. No significant differences were found between the two groups except in past, present and future activities domain [β = 3.66 (95% confidence interval 0.13 to 7.18)] in favour of the PTN group. However, there was some evidence of greater within group improvements in the PTN group particularly in overall QoL, social relations and social participation. In the SOSU group, no significant effect was observed in any QoL domain. Conclusion A combination of a home-based physical and nutritional intervention was not more effective compared to social support alone, on QoL in community-dwelling pre-frail and frail older adults. However, the small but significant improvement within the PTN group suggests that a home-based physical and nutritional intervention delivered by volunteers may influence the QoL in a positive way. Trial registration The study protocol was registered on 6 November 2013 at ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT01991639 ).