In the present paper, porous refractory ceramics synthesized by selective laser sintering/melting from a mixture of zirconium dioxide, aluminum and/or alumina powders are subjected to optical metallography and X-ray analysis to study their microstructure and phase composition depending on the laser processing parameters. It is shown that high-speed laser sintering in air yields ceramics with dense structure and a uniform distribution of the stabilizing phases. The obtained ceramic-matrix composites may be used as thermal and electrical insulators and wear resistant coating in solid oxide fuel cells, crucibles, heating elements, medical tools. The possibility to reinforce refractory ceramics by laser synthesis is shown on the example of tetragonal dioxide of zirconium with hardened micro-inclusion of Al2O3. By applying finely dispersed Y2O3 powder inclusions, the type of the ceramic structure is significantly changed. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.