The effects of 300‐K implantation of 200‐keV Cd+ions and subsequent pulsed laser annealing in GaAs were investigated by means of depth‐resolved cathodoluminescence at 80 K. We found that lattice order could be restored sufficiently to increase the implanation‐quenched luminescence by 2–3 orders of magnitude with either ruby or Nd:glass lasers. Thus the luminescence is recovered to within an order of magnitude of that in unimplanted material.