Failure mechanism of steel fiber polyvinyl alcohol fiber hybrid reinforced cementitious composites under uniaxial compression was investigated by ultrasonic pulse method. The experimental results show that the initial wave velocity in hybrid fiber composites prior to loading is mainly controlled by the matrices. Good correlation exists between wave velocity and elastic modulus or compressive strength. During loading, the velocity of primary wave stays almost unchanged while shear wave velocity shows an obvious variation. The shear wave velocity in polyvinyl alcohol fiber reinforced system experiences a sudden drop after entering stress drop stage. However, the shear wave velocity in hybrid fiber reinforced system exhibits a steady decline. The failure mode of mono fiber reinforced system displayes splitting failure with major crack parallel to axial direction. By contrast, the major crack in hybrid fiber reinforced system turns out to be inclined to axial direction, with increased tortuosity that yields larger plastic deformation capacity. The effectiveness of ultrasonic pulse method in detecting the compressive failure of hybrid fiber composites is validated.