A spin valve magnetoresistance sensor of a thin film magnetic head. In one embodiment, a spin valve magnetoresistance sensor is provided with a spin valve film, in which a base layer including a first base film of Ta or some other nonmagnetic metal and, on top of this, a second base film of an alloy represented by NiFeX (where X is at least one element selected from among Cr, Nb, Rh) is formed on a substrate, and on top of this are formed by layering a free magnetic layer and pinned magnetic layer arranged to enclose a nonmagnetic conductive layer, as well as an antiferromagnetic layer, the second base film has an fcc (face-centered cubic) structure and also has a (111) orientation.