The sliding tribological behavior of rare earth-modified GCr15 bearing steel against bakelite cage material was investigated via ring/block tester under grease lubrication conditions, in comparison with the ordinary GCr15 bearing steel. The results show that although the measured friction coefficient between rare earth GCr15 steel and bakelite material is larger, its wear volume is smaller than the ordinary GCr15 steel; both bearing steels have experienced material removal mainly caused by abrasive wear, and their wear volume tends to decrease with the increasing rotation speed; only furrows can be seen on the surface of the wear scar of rare earth GCr15 steel, while the ordinary GCr15 steel has more flaking in addition to the furrows that are removed during abrasive wear. The influence of the rare earth induced microstructural improvement of the GCr15 steel on its service behavior is discussed in terms of carbides, non-metallic inclusions and retained austenite. It follows that although rare earth modification reduces the hardness of bearing steel to a certain extent, but it can effectively suppress the fracture removal mechanism in abrasive wear, that GCr15 bearing steel inevitably appears during service, i.e., material spalling, thereby its wear resistance under sliding friction conditions is improved.