| Competition: | 1981 Men's World Judo Championships |
| Dates: | 3–6 September 1981 |
| Location: | Maastricht, Netherlands |
The 1981 World Judo Championships were the 12th edition of the Men's World Judo Championships, and were held in Maastricht, Netherlands from 3–6 September, 1981.
| -60 kg |  Yasuhiko Moriwaki | Pavel Petřikov |  Felice Mariani  Phil Takahashi | |
| -65 kg | Katsuhiko Kashiwazaki | Constantin Niculae |  Hwang Jung-Oh Petr Ponomarev | |
| -71 kg | Park Chong-Hak |  Serge Dyot | Karl-Heinz Lehmann Vojo Vujevic | |
| -78 kg |  Neil Adams | Jiro Kase | Kevin Doherty Georgi Petrov | |
| -86 kg | Bernard Tchoullouyan | Seiki Nose | David Bodaveli Detlef Ultsch | |
| -95 kg | Tengiz Khubuluri |  Robert van de Walle | Ha Hyung-Joo Roger Vachon | |
| +95 kg | Yasuhiro Yamashita | Grigory Verichev | Vladimir Kocman  Juha Salonen | |
| Open | Yasuhiro Yamashita |  Wojciech Reszko |  Andras Ozsvar Robert van de Walle |