Natural gas is a promising alternative fuel of internal combustion engines. In this paper, the combustion and emission characteristics were investigated on a natural gas engine at two different fuel injection timings during the intake stroke. The results show that fuel injection timing affects combustion processes. The optimum spark timing (MBT) achieving the maximum indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) is related to fuel injection timing and air fuel ratio. At MBT spark timing, late fuel injection timing delays ignition timing and prolongs combustion duration in most cases. But fuel injection timing has little effect on IMEP at fixed lambdas. The coefficient of variation (COV) of IMEP is dependent on air fuel ratio, throttle positions and fuel injection timings at MBT spark timing. The COV of IMEP increases with lambda in most cases. Late fuel injection timings can reduce the COV of IMEP at part loads. Moreover, engine-out CO and total hydrocarbon (THC) emissions can be reduced at late fuel injection timing.