Electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma-excited molecular beam epitaxial (ECR-MBE) growth of GaN using hydrogen-nitrogen mixed gas plasma was investigated. The growth rate of GaN was drastically increased by addition of hydrogen to nitrogen plasma. The transition of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns, from streaked patterns created without the presence of hydrogen to spotted patterns in the presence of hydrogen, indicated that the effective V/III ratio was increased by the addition of hydrogen. NHx radical families were detected in hydrogen-nitrogen mixed gas plasma by quadrupole mass spectroscopy and optical emission spectroscopy. These radicals were considered to be responsible for the observed increase in growth rate. Transmission electron microscope observation showed that the surface morphology of GaN without hydrogen was relatively flat and that with hydrogen was columnar with {1 0 ~1 1} facets. It seems likely that the columnar structure of the GaN layers grown with hydrogen were strongly related to initial island growth.