The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of swirl, injection pressure and pilot injection on D.I. diesel combustion by using a transparent engine system. The test engine is equipped with common rail injection system to obtain high pressure and to control injection timing and duration. In this study, the combustion analysis and steady flow test were conducted to estimate the heat release rate from in-cylinder pressure. Soot distribution in diffusion flame according to swirl ratio, injection pressure and pilot injection was investigated by using LII technique. As the results, high injection pressure was found to shorten ignition delay as well as enhance peak pressure and heat release rate was greatly affected by injection timing and pilot injection. In addition, the results showed that the period of soot formation corresponded to the diffusion flame.