In this paper, the effect of surface treatment on the adhesion between D16AM aluminum alloy and thermoplastic polyurethane is studied. Adhesion between the metal and polymer plays a key role in the formation of the strength properties of the metal-polymer based laminar composites, which are nowadays widely used in load-bearing structures like beams, columns, roofs, pedestrian bridges, etc. The effects of the metal surface treatment, such as chemical etching, electrochemical anodizing, laser treatment, and a combination of the mentioned processing, on the composite’s shear strength were examined. The morphology of the metal surface after treatment was studied via scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The true value of the adhesive strength was calculated, taking into account the micro- and macro-relief of the surface and its actual surface area determined via atomic force microscopy. A combined method of metal surface treatment to increase adhesion to a polymer is proposed, the method includes chemical or electrochemical etching followed by laser treatment. It was shown that complex treatment of the aluminum surface allows to increase the shear strength of composites by 50 %. It is established that with chemical etching or laser treatment, the value of the true adhesive strength remains virtually unchanged, however, when using the combined method, its significant increase is observed.