A surface-coated cutting tool comprising a substrate, and a coating formed thereon, characterized in that the coating includes a first coating containing TiCN and a second coating containing α-type Al2O3, the first coating is interposed between the substrate and the second coating, and the second coating has compressive stress S1 on the rake face and tensile stress S2 on the flank face, with the compressive stress S1 and the tensile stress S2 being defined by the following expression; 441 MPa≦|S1−S2|≦3500 MPa.