Diesel engine has the advantages of strong power, low fuel consumption and good durability, so it has been widely used in transportation, automobile, ship and other fields. However, the nitrogen oxides(NOx) and particulate matter(PM) emitted by diesel engines have become one of the main causes of air pollution. Especially during idling, the engine temperature is low, and there are more residual exhaust gases in the combustion chamber, resulting in the formation of more harmful emissions. In this study, performance of a single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection (DI) diesel engine fueled with diesel–biodiesel mixtures has been experimentally investigated.