The 1981 NCAA men's volleyball tournament was the 12th annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate volleyball.

[1] UCLA defeated USC in the final match, 3–2 (11–15, 15–7, 15–11, 8–15, 15–13), to win their eighth national title.

This was a rematch of the previous two years' finals, which were split between UCLA and USC.

UCLA's Karch Kiraly was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.

Until the creation of the NCAA Men's Division III Volleyball Championship in 2012, there was only a single national championship for men's volleyball.