The surface acoustic waves generated by a pulsed laser in pipes are studied by using the finite element method. The time domain waveforms of guided waves in three different thickness pipes are obtained in the near field. The numerical results denoted that the excited waves by a pulsed laser in a thin-walled pipe are typical lamb wave like in a thin plate, while in a thick pipe the main features of the surface waves are two kinds of waves: the surface skimming longitudinal wave and the Rayleigh wave, which will be useful in the applications in non-destructive evaluation of pipes.