To compare the clinical outcome of autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (APBSCT) and autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) in treatment of patients with acute leukemia in first remission, 41 patients received APBSCT, 17 patients received unpurged ABMT and 30 patients received purged ABMT. The results showed that hematopoietic recovery was significantly earlier after APBSCT than that after purged or unpurged ABMT. The 3-year disease-free survival (DFS), relapse rate (RR) and transplant-related mortality (TRM) for all patients of 3 groups were 51.7%, 41.7% and 6.8%, respectively. DFS and RR were significantly influenced by disease types (ALL or AML) and intervals between diagnosis and CR(1) or CR(1) and transplant. The main causes of transplant-related death were infection and hemorrhage. After APBSCT, DFS, RR and TRM were 48.4%, 43.9% and 4.9%, respectively, and did not differ significantly from those found in unpurged ABMT (47.1%, 45.6% and 11.8%) or purged ABMT (66.5%, 29.6% and 6.7%). It is concluded that the clinical outcome of APBSCT is similar to unpurged or purged ABMT but APBSCT allows faster recovery of hematopoiesis and needs less transfusion support.