Controlled auto-ignition(CAI) combustion, offers the potential to improve fuel economy and reduce emission simultaneously. In this study, CAI-combustion was achieved in a single cylinder gasoline DI engine with modified camshafts in order to restrict the gas exchange process. We investigated the effects of air-fuel ratio, residual EGR rate and injection timing such as early injection and late injection on the attainable CAI combustion region. The effect of injection timings on combustion characteristic such as start of combustion, combustion duration and heat release rate was also investigated. From the result early injection causes the mixture to ignite earlier and burn more quickly due to the exothermic reaction during the recompression and gives rise to good mixing of the fuel/air. On the other hand, late injection extended the operation region more than early injection but the emissions of HC and NOx were more or less increased than early injection.