Abstract To deepen the understanding of laser–arc hybrid welding, the weld shape and microstructure characteristics of laser–metal inert gas hybrid welded mild steel were analyzed. The results showed typical hybrid weld could be classified as two parts: the wide upper zone and the narrow nether zone, which were defined as arc zone and laser zone, respectively. In the hybrid weld, the microstructure, alloy element distribution and microhardness all have evident difference between laser zone and arc zone. The microstructure of arc zone consists of coarse columnar dendrite and fine acicular dendrite between the columnar dendrites, but that of laser zone is composed of fine equiaxed dendrite in weld center and columnar dendrite around the equiaxed dendrite. Compared to arc zone, laser zone has finer grain size, higher microhardness, smaller alloy element content in the fusion zone and narrower heat affected zone. The discussions demonstrated that the observed difference was caused by the difference of temperature gradient, crystallizing and the effects of arc pressure on the molten pool between laser zone and arc zone.