Ultrafine-grained pure Al and Al-based composites with 10 and 20vol% of Al2O3 were produced by cold consolidation of powders using high-pressure torsion (HPT). Ball-on-disc wear resistance of Al was improved by HPT when compared to its coarse-grained counterpart processed with H24 treatment (cold rolling followed by low-temperature annealing). Wear width decreased but wear depth and wear volume increased with the addition of Al2O3 to the Al matrix. The wear mechanism was mainly due to adhesion in Al and Al–Al2O3 composites. It was found that the variation of wear width can be represented by a unique function of the ratio of load/hardness in consistency with the Reye's hypothesis and the Holm and Archard relationships. However, the variation of wear depth was inconsistent with the hardness variations. •Pure Al and Al–Al2O3 composites were consolidated by high-pressure torsion (HPT).•Ball-on-disc wear resistance of Al was improved by consolidation of powders using HPT.•Wear width decreased but wear depth and volume increased with addition of Al2O3 to Al.•Wear mechanism was mainly adhesion in Al and Al–Al2O3 composites.•Variations of wear width and depth were evaluated as a function of load/hardness.