Background: Muscle relaxants with a short duration of action are particularly useful at the time when there is difficult mask ventilation. Hence; the present study was undertaken for assessing the effect of pre administration of a small dose of ephedrine on onset time of cisatracurium. Materials & methods: A total of 40 patients scheduled for elective and emergency surgical procedures under general anaesthesia were enrolled. All patients were assessed preoperatively with history, physical examination and relevant investigations. All were kept nil per oral 6 hours prior to surgery. These patients were divided into two groups of 20 each- GROUP 1: Receiving ephedrine (70 micrograms/kg), and GROUP 2: Receiving saline. Effects of intravenous ephedrine on the onset time of cisatracurium after a bolus dose of cisatracurium (0.15 mg/kg) were studied. Patients anesthetized with fentanyl (1.5micrograms/kg) and propofol (1-2mg/kg) were randomly divided into 2 groups to receive either ephedrine (70micrograms/kg) or saline 5 seconds before propofol. Cisatracurium was administered after loss of consciousness. Neuromuscular block was assessed at adductor pollicis using accelography with train of four stimulation. Intubation with appropriate size endotracheal tube following muscle relaxation. Results: Mean age of the patients of Group 1 and group 2 was 35.3 years and 34.7 years respectively. Both the study groups were comparable in terms of age-wise distribution of patients. 60 percent of the patients of group 1 and 65 percent of the patients of group 2 were males while the remaining were females. Both the study groups were comparable in terms of gender-wise distribution of patients.None of the patient of both the study groups showed the presence of allergy.Non-significant results were obtained while comparing the distribution of patients according to Viby Mogenson Score.Mean time of onset among the patients of Group 1 and Group 2 was 141.8 seconds and 169.2 seconds respectively. Significant results were obtained while comparing the mean time of onset among the patients of two study groups. Conclusion: Pretreatment with ephedrine 70 µg/kg improved intubating conditions after cisatracurium administration and facilitated the early onset of cisatracurium without adverse hemodynamic effects.