Laser surface melting (LSM) and alloying (LSA) of type 304L stainless steel with molybdenum and tantalum have been studied for improvement of corrosion and wear-resistance properties. These properties were seen to be affected by the presence of delta-ferrite, produced by the high cooling rate in LSM, as well as by compositional modifications introduced in molybdenum- and tantalum-alloyed LSA layers. Passivation and pitting-resistance properties were seen to be enhanced with increase in delta-ferrite content in LSM samples. Excellent corrosion properties were observed for the molybdenum-alloyed layer. The tantalum-alloyed layer had similar corrosion properties to those achieved with LSM of 304L. The improvement of abrasive wear resistance of the laser-processed samples with increase in hardness was found to be very small compared to the untreated alloy.