Background <p>Plant growth and development are affected by various abiotic stressors. In recent years, drought and salt stresses are frequently occurred as environmental problems affecting crop production. DREB transcription factors regulate the expression of downstream genes to resist abiotic stresses in various plants. However, little is known about the functions of <i>DREB</i> genes in hulless barely.</p> Results <p>In this study, we analyzed the bioinformatic characteristics and performed expression profile of <i>HvDREB4.1</i> and <i>HvDREB4.2</i>with drought, salt, and ABA treatments<i>.</i> The results of subcellular localization and transcriptional activation assay revealed that HvDREB4.1 and HvDREB4.2 localized in the nucleus and demonstrated transcriptional activation activity. The ectopic expression of the <i>HvDREB4.1</i> and <i>HvDREB4.2</i> in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> improved seedling survival rate, root length and seed germination under drought and salt stress, and accompanied by higher chlorophyll content and CAT activities, but lower ROS accumulation, cell death, ion leakage, MDA content than wild-type plants. The transcript levels of drought- and salt-tress responsive genes were up-regulated in <i>HvDREB4.1-</i> and <i>HvDREB4.2-</i>overexpression lines than in wild-type plants treated with drought and salt stresses. Furthermore, the potentially interacted proteins related to stress resistance were identified with HvDREB4.1 and HvDREB4.2.</p> Conclusion <p>These data demonstrated that <i>HvDREB4.1</i> and <i>HvDREB4.2</i> promoted drought and salt tolerance in transgenic <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>.</p>