In this study, the effect of various pilot injection timings on combustion and emission characteristics were investigated in a common-rail direct injection (CRDI) diesle engine fueled with diesel-ethanol blends. The engine speed and engine load were controlled at constant 1500rpm and 70Nm, respectively. The tested fuels were DE0 (pure diesel fuel), DE5 (5 vol.% ethanol blended with 95 vol.% diesel oil), DE10 (10 vol.% ethanol blended with 90 vol.% diesel oil) and DE15 (15 vol.% ethanol blended with 85 vol.% diesel oil). The main injection timing was fixed at 0°CA TDC (top dead center), while various pilot injection timings including 25°CA BTDC (before top dead center), 20°CA BTDC and 10°CA BTDC were selected as the experimental variable. The experimental results showed that various pilot injection timings had little effect on the peak value of cylinder pressure, but had great influence on the start of combustion. The peak value of heat release rate (HHR) increased with the increase of ethanol content. However, the peak value of HRR reduced as the pilot injection is delayed. The diesel fuel containing 10% ethanol had a highest peak value of combustion pressure compared with the others, while the pilot injection timing occurred at 25°CA BTDC. On the other hand, the exhaust emissions of DE10 was also the lowest compared with the others. In addition, with the increase of ethanol content in diesel the PM and NOx emissions reduced.