The GaN based blue light emitting diodes (LEDs) with a thin AlInN layer inserted in front of the electron blocking layer (EBL) are experimentally studied. It is found that inserting a thin EBL can improve the light output power and reduce the efficiency droop compared with the conventional AlGaN counterparts. Based on numerical simulation and analysis, the improvement on the electrical and optical characteristics is mainly attributed to the reduction of the electron leakage current, which increases the concentration of carriers in the quantum well (QW) when the thin AlInN layer is used.