A kind of ecofriendly ricinoleic acid based ionic liquid was used as a multifunctional lubricant additive in glycerol solution. Its surface tension, anticorrosion and lubricating properties were investigated. Above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) it remarkably improves the anticorrosion and lubricating abilities of glycerol solution and its optimal concentration is 6%. Moreover, the increasing load from 25 N to 50 N improves the lubricity while high temperature and heavy load conditions are negative for the lubricity. The worn surfaces were analyzed using SEM-EDAX and Raman spectroscope. Meanwhile molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to explore the adsorption progress of the additive on iron surface. The lubrication mechanism is attributed to the formation of absorbed layers and tribofilms.