Microwave absorbing coating samples were fabricated with carbon nanotube （CNT） and nanoscaled tetrapod-shaped ZnO （NT-ZnO） as the absorbents and epoxy resin as the binder. The influence of the content of CNT and NT-ZnO in the absorbing coatings on microwave absorbing property was investigated. After 3-layer coating, when the content of CNT reached 12%, NT-ZnO reached 8% and the coating thickness was 15 mm, the results showed that the minimum reflection was -2307 dB. The frequency width reached 5 GHz below -10 dB and the area density was 2 kg/m2 The microwave absorbing performance has obviously improved compared with that of the pure carbon nanotube and nano tetrapleg ZnO coating. Finally, the absorbing mechanism was discussed.