The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of rocuronium and pancuronium for precurarization technique. One hundred patients were enrolled in the study and randomly allocated into two groups. Pancuronium 0.014 mg/kg and rocuronium 0.06 mg/kg were injected 3 and 1 minute (s) before succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg in group 1 and group 2 respectively. The incidence of fasciculation in rocuronium group was lower than pancuronium group (54% VS 62%) but no significant difference. Three patients in pancuronium group reported side effects, two had heaviness of the eyelids and blurred vision and one had difficulty in breathing but none in rocuronium group. The incidence of postoperative myalgia was 24% and 16% in pancuronium group and rocuronium group respectively. The intubating conditions of the two groups were comparable It was concluded that the effect of pretreatment or precurarization was not different with rocuronium or pancuronium, but time used fro precurarization in rocuronium (1 min). was shorter than pancuronium (3 min). This approach was a time-saving technique which minimized exposure of the awake patient to the unpleasant experience of partial neuromuscular blockade from precurarization.