To characterize the elastic modulus of laser cladding coating, a nondestructive evaluation method based on laser ultrasonic surface wave is proposed. First, we establish a theoretical model of surface wave propagation in two-layer structures, namely, the coating and substrate. Then, we obtain the theoretical dispersion curves by solving the wave equation. Afterward, we excite and receive the surface wave signals on different areas of the laser cladding coating using laser ultrasonic equipment and obtain the experimental dispersion curves of the surface wave using two-dimensional Fourier transform. To solve the inverse problem of the surface wave, the elastic modulus of different coating regions is determined by minimizing the difference between theoretical and experimental dispersion curves. According to the elastic modulus on different areas of coating, we conclude that the coating material prepared using laser cladding technology is nonuniform. The laser ultrasonic surface wave method is useful for testing the elastic modulus of laser cladding coating and improving the laser cladding technology.