The influence of phenobarbital (PB) pretreatment (75 mg/kg/day, i.p. for 4 days) on the pharmacokinetics of diltiazem (DTZ) and its metabolite, desacetyldiltiazem (DAD), was investigated in rats. DTZ was injected via femoral (3 mg/kg) or portal (10 mg/kg) vein to the control and PB-pretreated rats. DAD was also injected separately via femoral (3 mg/kg) vein to both groups of rats. The intrinsic hepatic plasma clearance of DTZ was found to be significantly increased (6.8-fold) by the PB pretreatment. However, the fraction of an intravenous DTZ dose converted to DAD $(F_mi)$ was only slightly (6%) increased and calculated metabolic rate constant of DTZ to DAD was not affected by the pretreatment. On the other hand, plasma free fraction of DTZ was increased (1.8-fold) from $4.24{pm}0.25%$ to $7.45{pm}0.54%$ by the pretreatment. However, the l.8-fold increase in the free fraction of DTZ would not explain the 6.8-fold increase in the hepatic intrinsic clearance of DTZ. Therefore, the increase in either the hepatic blood flow or the metabolism other than to DAD was expected as the probable mechanism(s) of the increased hepatic clearance of DTZ. Sequential metabolism of DAD to further metabolites, however, would be a more potential cause of the apparently unchanged metabolism of DTZ to DAD by the PB-pretreatment.