Tool steels are widely used in all kinds of production processes, although they are expensive and difficult to machine. Increasing the lifetime of the steels is one of the main purposes of research. The lifetime of tool steels is often limited by the appearance of wear, mostly adhesive and abrasive wear. For this reason, a lot of research work has been conducted during the last decades in finding ways to protect the tool surface from wear. One of the parameters which determine the wear behaviour of tool steels is their microstructure. It is known, for example, that increasing matrix hardness is beneficial to reduce wear, as well as the existence of carbides or other hard particles in the tool steels. The aim of the present work was to conduct a systematic work which concentrates on the influence of the carbide content and type on the wear behaviour. It was proved that increasing carbide content has generally a beneficial influence on the wear properties of tool steels. However, a higher carbide content is only beneficial if a uniform distribution of the carbides is achieved simultaneously.