In this paper, an experimental investigation about the influence of hot EGR addition on the engine combustion, performance and particulate number emission was conducted at a spark-ignition gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine. Meanwhile, the different effects between cooled and hot EGR addition methods were compared and the variations of fuel consumption and particle number emissions under six engine operating conditions with different speeds and loads were analyzed. The research result indicated that increasing hot EGR ratio properly with adjustment of ignition timing could effectively improve the relationship among brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), NOx and particle number emissions. When hot EGR ratio increased to 20%, not only BSFC but also the NOx and particle number emissions were reduced, which were about 7%, 87% and 36% respectively. Compared with cooled EGR, the flame development and propagation speeds were accelerated, and cycle-by-cycle combustion variation decreased with hot EGR. Meanwhile, using hot EGR made the engine realize a better relationship among fuel consumption, NOx and particle number emissions. The biggest improvements of BSFC, NOx and particle number emissions were obtained at low-medium speed and medium load engine conditions by hot EGR addition method. While engine speed increased and load decreased, the improvement of engine fuel consumption and emission reduced with hot EGR method. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.