In this study, the bead-on-plate welds were made on AA5083-H321 alloy plates using both tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding and laser beam (LB) welding processes to study the enhancement of mechanical properties such as weld yield strength and hardness. The low heat input of laser beam welding effectively reduced the size of the fusion zone and heat affected zone compared to tungsten inert gas welding process. High speed LB welding and fast heating and cooling of LB welding process hinders grain growth compared to TIG welding process. The effect of vapourization of volatile alloying elements is also considered. It seems that magnesium evaporation is relatively less in LB welding compared to TIG welding. Tensile testing of the welded joints revealed that LB welding results in superior mechanical properties. It is concluded that LB welding process is more suitable to join AA5083-H321. © 2012 Indian Academy of Sciences.