The magnetic and magneto‐optical properties of Fe‐Si/Pd multilayers prepared by rf sputtering were studied. For Fe‐Si/Pd multilayers with a fixed Fe‐Si layer thicknessdmof 15 A˚ and the Pd layer thicknessdpincreasing from 10.8 to 18 A˚, the saturation magnetizationMsand the Kerr rotation &thgr;kdecrease sharply and reach a minimum. Withdpfurther increasing, the multilayers increase.Msis almost constant and &thgr;kdecreases slightly whendp≳36 A˚. For Fe‐Si/Pd (54 A˚) multilayers the room temperatureMsdecreases and &thgr;kincreases, respectively, with increasingdm. This is caused by the spin‐polarization effect of Pd atoms near the interfaces.