For a graph G, the first Zagreb index is defined as the sum of the squares of the vertices degrees. By investigating the connection between the first Zagreb index and the first three coefficients of the Laplacian characteristic polynomial, we give a lower bound for the first Zagreb index, and we determine all corresponding extremal graphs. By doing so, we generalize some known results, and, as an application, we use these results to study the Laplacian spectral determination of graphs with small first Zagreb index.