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Abstract Inconel 718 (IN718) alloy is widely applied to fabricate high temperature resistant or corrosion resistant parts due to its excellent mechanical performance. However, the machining of IN718 alloy is difficult as it may cause serious tool wear and poor surface quality (SQ) of the workpiece. In this work, grinding experiments on IN718 alloy at different speeds were conducted by using a CBN grinding wheel. The relationship between grinding speed, SQ and subsurface damage (SSD) was well studied. With increasing grinding speed, surface roughness decreased, and SQ was greatly improved. Meanwhile, the microhardness of the grinding surface declined as the grinding speed increased. The SSD depth was almost unchanged when the grinding speed was lower than 15 m/s, then it decreased with higher grinding speeds. It was attributed to the mechanical-thermal synergistic effect in the grinding process. The results indicated that increasing grinding speed can effectively improve the SQ and reduce the SSD of IN718 alloy. The conclusion in the work may also provide insight into processing other hard-to-machining materials.