This present study on biodiesel blends shows the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of the DI diesel engine, which is been run independently on direct diesel fuel, 20% blending of zizipus jujbe methyl ester (ZJME20), and 20% blending of mahua methyl ester (MME20) with diesel. In this study, the tested fuels were obtained by catalytic transesterification process. Based on the experimental results, MME20 is favorable for less HC, CO, and smoke density than diesel and ZJME20. Based on the brake thermal efficiency and specific fuel consumption, MME20 is better when compared with ZJME20. The result also showed momentous improvement in the heat releasing rate due to the better performance characteristic of MME20.