All papers were peer-reviewed. In the industry, the laser is placed like a tool having shown its effectiveness from the point of view of the tasks execution speed, the accuracy and the quality of the obtained result. Beside, the plasmas obtained by laser, by discharge, or the dusty plasmas are now intensively studied both by theoretical and experimental approaches since their applications are very promising in many fields. The First International Conference on Laser and Plasma Applications in Materials Science (LAPAMS'08) organized by the Centre de Développement des Technologies Avancées (CDTA) of Algiers. Its objective was to present the state of the art, the trends, the fundamental aspects of the interaction between a laser beam and material, and the modelling and simulation of laser and plasma for the applications. The conference gathered 16 eminent invited speakers in different research fields related to laser and plasma technologies and applications. These invited speakers known for their international notoriety were from Canada, USA, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, South Africa, and Algeria. Beside about 120 scientists, researchers, engineers and students from ten countries of the African, European and American continents have participated to the conference. More than 100 contributions have been submitted, and the accepted ones were selected by LAPAMS'08 scientific committee.