This paper presents our results on surface micro-structuring of tantalum samples using femtosecond (fs) pulsed laser irradiation and its effect on field emission performance. Micro-structuring of Ta targets has been carried by varying laser fluence in the range 0.35–0.55 J/cm² while keeping target scan speed constant at 25 μm/s. Laser-treated surfaces have shown the formation of high density micro-protrusions and an oxide phase mainly consisting of crystalline Ta₂O₅. Our results showed substantial improvement in field emission performance of laser micro-structured surfaces in comparison to pristine Ta surface. Areal number density of micro-protrusions decreases from 8.8 × 10⁵ to 3.5 × 10⁵ protrusions/cm² as incident laser fluence varied from 0.35 to 0.55 J/cm². Ta sample micro-structured with 0.55 J/cm² laser fluence has shown low turn on field (~ 4.0 ± 0.6 Vμm⁻¹) and high-field enhancement factor (4500 ± 500).