Laser shock peening (LSP) was conducted on H13 steel prior to plasma nitriding (PN). The optical microscopy (OP), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), microhardness tester and ball-on-disk wear tester were employed to investigate the microstructure and properties of plasma nitrided H13 steel coupled with LSP processing. The results show that a large number of dislocations, as well as dislocation cells and nanocrystals composed of high-density dislocations, are observed in H13 steel after LSP treatment. Compared with the PN sample, the diffraction peak intensities of the Fe3N phase in the LSP + PN sample are slightly enhanced and the diffraction peaks shift to the right as a whole. Compared to the PN sample, the LSP + PN sample exhibits significant improvements in various aspects. Specifically, the white bright layer and diffusion layer of the LSP + PN sample increased by approximately 25 % and 119.4 %, respectively. Additionally, the thickness of the effective hardened layer increased by around 50 %, and the microhardness increased by approximately 31.3 %. The LSP + PN sample has the better wear resistance than that of the PN sample, with the friction coefficient, wear scar width, wear volume, and wear rate reduced by 11.1 %, 8.4 %, 7.9 %, and 7.3 %, respectively. Through parallel experiments, the experimental error is controlled within 2 %.