This clinical trial was conducted to evaluate optimal time of injection of a small dose of fentanyl during anesthetic induction to attenuate circulatory responses to laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. A total of 120 patients who scheduled for elective surgery were included in this study. The patients were randomly allocated to five groups. In groups II, III, IV, and V, the patients received fentanyl (2 microg/kg), 1, 3, 5, and 10 min before tracheal intubation, respectively. Group I patients did not receive fentanyl and served as the control group. Following induction with thiopental and atracorium an oral tracheal intubation was accomplished in each patient. Pulse rate, systolic, diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial blood pressure were measured before the induction and 1 min after the intubation and changes were compared between groups.