Hydrogen damage of AISI 304 stainless steel has been systemically investigated by measuring Doppler broadening of positron annihilation. Defect profiles of the S-parameter, the low-momentum annihilation fraction as a function of positron incident energy up to 30 keV (i.e. similar to 1 mu m depth) have been analyzed. Experimental results show that hydrogen damage between the surface and the bulk has a significant variation with depth, and strongly depends on the condition of hydrogen-charging, i.e. current density and charging time. It has been suggested that the increase in S-parameter near the surface after hydrogen-charging mainly comes from the formation of voids; however the increase in S-parameter in the bulk after hydrogen-charging mainly comes from the production of structural defects (dislocations). Defect densities induced due to hydrogen-charging in some cases (e.g. dislocation density in the bulk) are estimated based on the simple two-state trapping model. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.