An experimental investigation of an early injection strategy was conducted on a small single cylinder common-rail DI diesel engine to reduce the oxides of nitrogen($NO_x$) emission. The main objectives of this study were to investigate the emissions, performance and combustion characteristics in a diesel engine with early and two-stage injections. The two- stage injection was conducted to reduce the wall-wetting of early injected fuels on the cylinder wall or to promote the ignition of premixed charge. The engine test was performed at conditions of 1500rpm, injection timing ranging from TDC to BTDC $80^{circ}$. The experimental results show that $NO_x$ emissions were decreased in both cases of early injection and two stage injection compared to the conventional diesel combustion by the near TDC injection. However, soot and products of incomplete products (i.e. HC and CO) are slightly increased. Also, the second injection near TDC promoted the ignition of premixed fuel, therefore, IMEP was increased.