A process for coating a surface of a substrate made of nonmetallic material with a metal layer consisting of providing a substrate made of nonmetallic material; subjecting a surface of said substrate to a treatment for increasing the specific surface area thereof; subjecting the resulting surface to an oxidizing treatment; contacting the resulting substrate with a solution containing an ion of a metal from groups IB and VIII of the Periodic Table; obtaining a substrate comprising ions of a metal that are chemically attached to the nonmetallic material constituting the substrate on at least one of its surfaces; subjecting the ions to a reducing treatment to obtain a substrate comprising atoms of a metal that are chemically attached to the nonmetallic material constituting the substrate on a part of at least one of its surfaces; and contacting the resulting surface with a solution containing ions of a metal.