In this paper, we consider the function \(I_{\nu }(x)\textbf{L}_{\nu -1}(x) - I_{\nu -1}(x)\textbf{L}_{\nu }(x)\) , where \(I_\nu (x)\) and \(\textbf{L}_\nu (x)\) denote the modified Bessel and Struve functions of the first kind, respectively. We first derive a series representation for this function and then use it to establish sharp bounds for \(I_{\nu }(x)\textbf{L}_{\nu -1}(x) - I_{\nu -1}(x)\textbf{L}_{\nu }(x)\) , improving the results given by Gaunt (J Math Anal Appl 468(1):547–566, 2018). Finally, we obtain some new bounds for the difference \(\textbf{L}_{\nu -1}(x)/\textbf{L}_{\nu }(x) - I_{\nu -1}(x)/I_{\nu }(x)\) , which allow us to obtain refined bounds for \(\textbf{L}_{\nu -1}(x)/\textbf{L}_{\nu }(x)\) with the help of existing sharp bounds for \(I_{\nu -1}(x)/I_{\nu }(x)\) .