The purpose of the present work is to study the non-linear behaviour and instability of laminated composite cylindrical shells and panels under axial and pressure loading. The analysis is performed within a refined non- linear theory for composite laminated shells incorporating the effects of transverse shear and the geometric imperfections. The classical bifurcation theory is used to analyze the critical behavior of the shell. To examine the post-critical behavior of the shell, a modal solution based on the basic ideas of Koiter`s theory is deduced and the Rayleigh-Ritz method together with the Newton-Raphson strategy are used to solve the non-linear equilibrium problem and plot either the post-critical path or the non- linear equilibrium path of the imperfect shell. The analytical and numerical procedures were performed by the use of the symbolic algebra package Maple V release 3. The influence played by the geometrical parametrs of the shell and physical parameters of the composite laminate, such as stacking sequences and fiber orientation in each lamina, on the critical and post-critical behavior of the shell is examined and a series of conclusions are outlined. The imperfection sensitivity of these shells is also analyzed. Comparisons of the present results with those obtained by other theories and experiments are found to be satisfactory and show the validity of the present methodology.