AbstractPropagation of shear horizontal surface acoustic waves (SHSAWs) within a functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic (FGMEE) half-space was previously presented (Shodja HM, Eskandari S, Eskandari M. J. Eng. Math. 2015, 1–18) In contrast, the current paper considers propagation of SHSAWs in a medium consisting of an FGMEE layer perfectly bonded to a homogeneous MEE substrate. When the FGMEE layer is described by some special inhomogeneity functions – all the MEE properties have the same variation in depth which may or may not be identical to that of the density – we obtain the exact closed-form solution for the MEE fields. Additionally, certain special inhomogeneity functions with monotonically decreasing bulk shear wave velocity in depth are considered, and the associated boundary value problem is solved using power series solution. This problem in the limit as the layer thickness goes to infinity collapses to an FGMEE half-space with decreasing bulk shear wave velocity in depth. It is shown that in such a medium SHSAW does not propagate. Using power series solution we can afford to consider some FGMEE layers of practical importance, where the composition of the MEE obeys a prescribed volume fraction variation. The dispersive behavior of SHSAWs in the presence of such layers is also examined.