The characteristics of combustion and emissions were investigated in a single cylinder DI diesel engine equipped with a common rail injection system. This study presents an experimental study of the effect of engine speed, injection timing, injection pressure and pilot injection timing on the combustion and exhaust emissions. The engine speeds were 1000 and 2000rpm and the corresponding injection pressures were 50 and 100MPa. Experimental results show that NOx emissions decrease with retarded injection timing, while HC and CO emissions increases. Higher injection pressure increases NOx with lower soot emissions. For the case with the pilot injection prior to main injection, the ignition delay is shortened and the premixed combustion ratio decreases. Also NOx and soot emissions are decreased with increase of pilot injection advance.