<p>This study investigated the effect of surface damage on the interfacial bond performance between steel-basalt fiber composite bars (SBCB) and concrete. Twelve center pull-out specimens were designed to evaluate the bond strength under different localized surface scraped depths. During the SBCB pull-out process, acoustic emission (AE) technique was utilized to monitor the crack propagation within the specimens. The experimental results indicated that, rather than degrading the bond performance, an increase in scraped depth counterintuitively improved the bond strength of SBCB due to localized bending deformation. The specimen with a 13% cross-sectional loss rate exhibited the highest bond strength of 8.98 MPa, representing a 24.2% increase compared to the intact-surface specimen. AE parameters effectively revealed internal damage evolution across different loading stages, showing that tensile cracks were the dominant mode of crack propagation. Furthermore, a finite element model based on cohesive zone model was established to simulate the bond-slip relationship of SBCB in concrete. The simulation results showed good agreement with the experimental data, and the bond-slip mechanism of SBCB with surface damage was analyzed based on the simulation results. This study provides a valuable reference for establishing evaluation and acceptance standards for surface-damaged composite bars in engineering applications.</p>