The contribution deals with analysis of the influence of the substrate surface laser ablation before deposition process to improve the adhesion of coating-substrate system. The coatings were applied to the high-speed steel 6-5-2-5 (STN 19 852) and WC-Co cemented carbide with cobalt content of 10 wt%. LAteral Rotating Cathodes (LARC®) process was chosen for evaporation of individual CrN layers. Influence of laser ablation on the substrate morphology, structure, roughness, presence of residual stresses inside the substrates and layers and their adhesion behavior between the layers and the base material was studied. Scanning electron microscopy fitted with energy dispersive spectroscopy was utilized to investigate morphology and fracture areas of substrates with CrN layers. X-ray diffraction analysis was employed to detect the residual stresses measurements. Adhesion between the coatings and substrate was analyzed using “Mercedes” testing.