Alumina engineering ceramics have been widely used in modern industry for their superior thermal physical and mechanical properties. In order to study the surface quality of alumina ceramics during pulse-laser assisted turning, experimental investigations are conducted on pulse-laser assisted turning of hot-pressed 96 alumina ceramics. Based on the orthogonal experiment method, optimum operating conditions are achieved, and the influences on surface roughness and defects during pulse-laser assisted turning of alumina ceramics are attained under different parameters such as laser power, pulse frequency, rotational speed and feed. The results indicate that the feed makes the major contribution to overall turning performance, which reaches 41.97%. Good surface roughness and less surface defects can be achieved under the optimum operating conditions, which are laser power of 50 W , rotational speed of 510 r/min, pulse frequency of 50 kHz and feed of 0.01 mm/r.