Fatigue test is conducted to see the effect of pre-indentation on the fatigue crack retardation of Al5052-H18 plate. Metallographic observation is introduced to deduce the relationship between fatigue crack retardation and fracture appearance with indentation. The grain size of the specimen becomes smaller with the increase of indentation force and the plastic zone is formed with the decrease of grain size. The fatigue striations are appeared densely as the Indentation force becomes higher. Metallographic observation and fatigue test results show that the indentation force has the limited value in improving fatigue crack retardation. Important point to retard the fatigue crack growth is that the crack growth path should pass through the indented area.