A hybrid sharpening and polishing method with nanosecond pulse laser irradiation and precise grinding, which can evidently increase the material removal rate and improve cutting edge quality, is presented in this paper. For laser processing, the trend of diamond graphitization under different laser fluence is explored and its mechanism is thoroughly discussed. For the grinding process, the Taguchi method and gray relational analysis are conducted to optimize the parameters and to compare the cutting edge achieved by the hybrid machining with that achieved by conventional grinding. The smallest cutting edge radius we got is 1.957 μm, less than that achieved by conventional grinding methods. Moreover, the process of this method is found to be more stable than the conventional grinding, resulting in a crackless cutting edge. This phenomenon can be attributed to the defect left on the diamond surface after laser ablation, which increases the grindability of the surface layer. In comparison with the conventional grinding method, the advantages of this hybrid machining are demonstrated both in efficiency and in machining quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]