The influences of cladding layer thicknesses on the performance of strained‐layer InGaAs/GaAs graded‐index separated confinement heterostructure quantum well lasers have been studied. The waveguiding property of the laser structure was analyzed using the transfer matrix method. In this work, experimental results and the calculated results showed that threshold current densities and external quantum efficiencies both were crucially dependent on the thicknesses of cladding layer for both single and multiple quantum well lasers. The minimum cladding layer thicknesses needed to maintain low threshold current densities and low internal total loss for both single and multiple quantum well devices were determined experimentally and theoretically.