A method and apparatus for improved efficiency in optical fiber lasers. The system increases the efficiency of cladding pumped optical fiber amplifiers through a seeding technique which includes pumping an erbium/ytterbium doped fiber amplifier with pump energy, directing an optical signal through the erbium/ytterbium doped fiber amplifier, and seeding the optical signal with seed energy. The seed energy may have a higher energy level than the optical signal and a lower energy level than the pump energy, and the seed energy may be initially amplified in the amplifier and subsequently attenuated while amplifying the optical signal in the amplifier.