The influence of polarity and rise time of the pulse voltage on the removal of particulate matter (PM) emitted from a diesel engine was investigated using a dielectric barrier discharge reactor. Four kinds of pulse voltage waveforms (positive, negative, positive-negative and negative-positive) were used. It was found that the energy efficiency for PM removal is just a function of energy injection and that there are no obvious influences on PM removal and energy efficiency within the voltage waveforms except the negative pulse voltage of a peak voltage below 8 kV. A comparison of PM removals using various kinds of pulse voltage waveforms and different types of plasma reactors is given.