Titanium alloys are most extensively used in biomedical application, which need high degree of dimensional accuracy and good machinability to reduce manufacturing cost. Both of these necessities can be addressed by surface and sub-surface modification without altering the mechanical properties in core of the material. The laser treatment is one of best tool to obtain controlled surface modification. In present paper the laser treatment directionality effect on subsurface modification is studied and correlated with machinability of Ti6Al4V. The reduction in cutting force variation is observed for unidirectional laser treated sample, which contribute to enhance the machinability of the alloy. © 2016 The Authors