In order to overcome the existing disadvantages of offline laser shock peening detection methods, an online detection method based on acoustic wave signals energy is provided. During the laser shock peening, an acoustic emission sensor at a defined position is used to collect the acoustic wave signals that propagate in the air. The acoustic wave signal is sampled, stored, digitally filtered and analyzed by the online laser shock peening detection system. Then the system gets the acoustic wave signal energy to measure the quality of the laser shock peening by establishing the correspondence between the acoustic wave signal energy and the laser pulse energy. The surface residual stresses of the samples are measured by X-ray stress analysis instrument to verify the reliability. The results show that both the surface residual stress and acoustic wave signal energy are increased with the laser pulse energy, and their growth trends are consistent. Finally, the empirical formula between the surface residual stress and the acoustic wave signal energy is established by the cubic equation fitting, which will provide a theoretical basis for the real-time online detection of laser shock peening.