With high frequency, high sensitivity and high signal-to-noise ratio characteristics, acoustic emission is widely used in the detection field. When drilling composite laminated material, the acoustic emission signal will be generated with the wear of cutting tools. To obtain the relationship between time and frequency domain characteristics and tool wear condition, using high-speed steel and carbide drill conducted a series of experiments, collecting acoustic emission during the drilling process. The results show that the acoustic emission signal can be used to monitor the wear status of laminated materials. The RMS value and wavelet packet energy of acoustic emission signals are closely related to tool wear.