Key properties of magnesium alloys, such as the high strength-to-density ratio, are driving the production of lightweight structural components in the automotive and aeronautical industries. Many efforts have been carried out on various aspects of processing and fabrication, but the joining of Mg alloys to dissimilar materials is a subject which attracted much research interest in the last decades. In the present work a preliminary investigation on the strength of Al/Mg (AA6082/AZ31B) single-lap epoxy bonded joints was carried out. To this aim, Mg and Al substrates were laser irradiated using a pulsed ytterbium fiber laser. For comparison, and in order to estimate the beneficial action of the laser surface treatment, single lap joints with grit-blasted substrates were prepared and tested. The interaction between laser treated surfaces and two different epoxy adhesives was also analyzed. Finally, the results and discussion were supported by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) executed on treated and post-failure sample surfaces. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011