In order to improve the cladding processing efficiency and quality of curved surface parts and achieve off-line programming, the cladding path planning of curved surface parts is carried out according to the process characteristics of laser cladding. The modeling of parts is done based on the reverse engineering. A path generation method based on the tangent plane method is proposed according to the model. The distance between the tangential planes is determined by analyzing the overlap rate of cladding tracks. The interpolation point set along the trajectories is obtained by using defocusing amount for effective processing, and the normal vector is determined by calculating the location of interpolation points on the triangular patch. The position and attitude of the laser nozzle are calculated with the offset method. The morphology and structural property of cladding layer on surfaces are analyzed. Compared with general path planning algorithms, the proposed method, based on the premise of satisfying laser cladding process parameters, comprehensively considers many kinds of factors such as the track row spacing and the spot size. The cladding efficiency and quality are improved, which is beneficial to the promotion of laser cladding in the remanufacturing field of curved surface parts.