Carbide with its products is extensively applied in the field of mechanical machining of metal materials. In this study, graphene was employed as a beneficial additive to semisynthetic cutting fluid 3034, and the related frictional characteristic behavior was investigated via experimental on carbide-steel friction pair. In the experiment, a ball specimen was made of the carbide material of YG8, and a disk was made of the steel material of 45#. On the basis of ball-on-disk friction pair, experiments were conducted on a tribometer machine. The mass fraction of graphene in the tested coolant ranges from 0.1% to 0.9%. Surface topologies of the specimen were investigated using a laser confocal microscope. The scanning electron microscope and Raman spectra analysis was used to analyze wear mechanism. Experimental results revealed the improvement of lubrication condition between carbide and steel is substantially improved, demonstrated by the decreasing of averaged friction coefficient by 12.9% to 57.3% as well as the decreasing of wear rate by 33.82%. The resultant cutting force was decreased by 18.58% compared with that of semisynthetic cutting fluid 3034, and the surface roughness was reduced by 7.5% of the machined workpiece.