"We hope to work together in the days and months ahead on critical challenges like solving our financial crisis, creating a new energy economy, and protecting our nation's security," the two said in a joint statement released after their meeting in Chicago.
They also said they have had a "productive conversation" on the need to launch a "new era of reform where we take on government waste and bitter partisanship in Washington."
Their talks were the first since the Nov. 4 presidential election, where Obama, a Democratic, won a landslide victory over McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona.
Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president on Jan. 20, 2009. He will enter the White House as the first Democratic president in eight years, replacing Republican George W. Bush.
As president, Obama will have to tackle the daunting task of repairing the economy, damaged by the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown, which has also sent global financial markets into a tailspin and taken a toll on some major financial institutions.
During their campaigns, Obama and McCain traded barbs on issues ranging from the troubled economy and healthcare to the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism.
Obama often connected McCain with Bush, saying the Arizona senator's policies would extend Bush's legacy of the financial crisis and an endless war in Iraq.
McCain, for his part, denounced Obama for wanting to raise taxes to implement what McCain called liberal policies, and tried to distance himself from the Republican incumbent.