This study has been performed to investigate into some effects of power density and traverse speed of laser beam on optical microstructure, hardness and wear characteristics of gray cast iron treated by laser surface hardening technique. Optical micrograph has shown that large martensite and a small amount of retained austenite appear in outermost surface layer with fine martensite in inside hardened zone. Hardness measurements have revealed that the range of maximun hardness value is $Hv=650{pm}15$ and as the power density increases and the traverse speed decreses, the depth of hardened zone increases due to as increase in input power density. Wear test has exhibited that wear rasistance of laser surface hardened specimen is superier compared to that of untreated specimen under the condition of same load at a given sliding distance, showing that absorption results of an wxidized substance due to a heavy abrasion appear in untreated specimen. The amount of weight loss of laser surface hardened specimen with respect to sliding distance at a given load decreses with increasing traverse speed at a given power density and with increasing power density at a given traverse speed.