A surface-coated cutting tool comprising: a hard substrate; a lower layer which is formed on a surface of the hard substrate, contains a composite compound consisting of at least one element selected from Ti and Al, and at least one element selected from N and C, and has an average thickness of 0.1 to 3 μm; and an upper layer having an average thickness of 1 to 13 μm, which is formed on the lower layer and having a texture in which fine grains of crystalline Ti (C,N) based compounds or fine grains of crystalline (Ti, Al)(C, N) based compounds are dispersively distributed in a matrix of a carbon based amorphous material containing W.