The multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) provides accurate and efficient solutions of electromagnetic scattering problems involving large and complicated structures. On the other hand, whenever applicable, accelerations provided by approximation techniques can be useful to further improve the efficiency of solutions. In this paper, we present a hybrid technique, which combines the physical-optics (PO) method and MLFMA for efficient scattering computations of three-dimensional objects. We show that, with a careful choice of MLFMA and PO regions on the structure, the number of unknowns can be reduced and solutions can be accelerated significantly, without sacrificing the accuracy. The proposed hybrid technique is easy to implement by modifying existing MLFMA codes. ©2009 IEEE.