In order to investigate the shape and size information of the molten pool in the laser cladding process, the CMOS camera integrated with the laser head is used to shoot the molten pool. With the help of the image acquisition and image processing functions of the LabVIEW vision module, a set of real-time processing system for the laser cladding molten pool image is developed. Through the system, the molten pool features of laser cladding process is monitored and extracted quickly and effectively, and the effects of three main process parameters on the length, width and area of the molten pool are obtained. The single track laser cladding experiment of 316L stainless steel powder was carried out by using semiconductor lasers. The results show thatthe area and width of the molten pool increase, and the fluctuation of the molten pool length relative to the average value of its single track increases when the scanning speed decreases from 6 mm/s to 2 mm/s, and the laser power increases from 700 W to 1300 W. The length and area of the molten pool increase as the amount of powder feeding increases in the range of 4.2 g/min to 14.8 g/min, and the change in molten pool width is not obvious. The detection results of molten pool can be used as the output of closed loop control of laser cladding, and the stability of the molten pool is maintained by controlling the input parameters, therefore, the good effect of the cladding is obtained, which lays the foundation for the study of the closed loop control of laser cladding.