In this paper, a modified nonlocal means denoising (NL-means) algorithin is proposed for rolling element bearing fault diagnosis. Although, nonlocal means denoising is widely used in image processing, this algorithm is rarely used in 1-D signal processing. The present work deals With application of 1-D nonlocal means denoising method for enhancement of fault signature in rolling element bearings. The parameters for the NL-means method are obtained by maximizing kurtosis value of bearing vibration signal. The proposed method is compared with minimum entropy deconvolution (MED) technique and the results indicate that the proposed method performs better for bearing fault diagnosis. The method is shown to be robust against various noise levels. Further, envelope spectrum of bearing vibration signal is also used to obtain characteristic bearing defect frequencies. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.