As a new type of high energetic beam technique, high current pulsed electron beam (HCPEB) has been rapidly developed in recent years. Under HPCEB irradiation, the beam energy can be deposited with the featured characteristics including high density, fast heating speed, large depth and spot area. As a result, the material modification process is realized instantaneously with the following advantages, high working efficiency, small workpiece deformation and precise controlling of modified zone. The as-treated material endures the severe thermal-mechanical coupling effect and exhibits significant improvement in the surface properties. M2 high-speed steel (W6Mo5Cr4V2) has been widely applied for cutting tools in the machinery industries, With the desire of more strict working conditions, the comprehensive performance of M2 steel tools needs to be enhanced further. In this article, self-developed HCPEB equipment was adopted to treat M2 steel samples. The modification effects of HCPEB irradiation were studied basing on the characterizations of surface microstructure, phase composition, wear resistance and red hardness. The M2 steel samples with size of 10 mm×10 mm×10 mm was quenched at 1 220 ℃ and tempered at 560 ℃ for 3 times. The sample surface was smoothed by sandpaper 200#-1500# and polished, then cleaned by alcohol and acetone in an ultrasonic bathing pot. The HCPEB treatment was carried out with working parameters of accelerating voltage 25 kV, pulse width 2.5 ms, energy density 4 J/cm2, pulse number 3, 8 and 15 respectively. The surface morphology was studied by MEF-4 optical microscopy (OM) and Zygo 9000 3D optical profilometer. The phase composition was analyzed by XRD-6000 X-ray diffractometry where the copper target, scanning scope 20°-100° and step 0.02° were used. The surface and cross-sectional hardness were detected by DMH-2LS Knoop microhardness tester with pressing load 5 g and sampling time 15 s. The wear resistance was measured by CFT-I type friction and wear tester, where the counterpart is Si3N4 ball of diameter 4 mm with pressing load 20 N and testing time 30 min. The red hardness was compared by recording the Rockwell hardness after heating at 600 ℃ for 1 hour and cooling in the air. According to the analysis results, the surface layer of M2 steel sample was remelted with the formation of scattered craters. With the increasing pulse number, the quantity of craters increased and became larger, at the time, the surface toughness decreased. For the sample treated with 15 HCPEB pulses, the twins microstructure was observed universally with some melting holes and microcrack morphologies emerged in the craters. On the whole, the microstructure of remelted layer was refined and densified. The quantity of carbide particles decreased while the residual austenite showed the opposite trend. The microhardness of HCPEB modified M2 steel increased 53.5%, the wear volume decreased 16.5% with an abrasive wear mechanism and the red hardness showed an improvement 19.2%. In conclusion, the surface microstructure of M2 steel can be modified effectively by HCPEB treatment, and the surface microhardness, wear resistance and red hardness show an obvious improvement consistently.