This paper reports the results of using a new laser surface pretreatment technique to improve the strength of adhesive joints. A high power KrF excimer laser at 248 nm output was used to surface-treat a glass fiber-reinforced liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) composite. With optimum process parameters, the polymer matrix at the surface was etched away efficiently and the bare fibers anchored on the matrix were left dangling and undamaged. The surface morphology produced by this new technique resulted in high quality adhesive joints. Both lap-joint and butt-joint configurations were investigated. A 350% improvement in the butt-joint strength was achieved by this new pretreatment technique as compared with that of the untreated one.