The kinetic properties of highly purified preparations of sheep liver cytoplasmic aldehyde dehydrogenase (preparations that had been shown to be free from contamination with the corresponding mitochondrial enzyme) were investigated with both propionaldehyde and butyraldehyde as substrates. At low aldehyde concentrations, double-reciprocal plots with aldehyde as the variable substrate are linear, and the mechanism appears to be ordered, with NAD+ as the first substrate to bind. Stopped-flow experiments following absorbance and fluorescence changes show bursts of NADH production in the pre-steady state, but the observed course of reaction depends on the pre-mixing conditions. Pre-mixing enzyme with NAD+ activates the enzyme in the pre-steady state and we suggest that the reaction mechanism may involve isomeric enzyme--NAD+ complexes. High concentrations of aldehyde in steady-state experiments produce significant activation (about 3-fold) at high concentrations of NAD+, but inhibition at low concentrations of NAD+. Such behaviour may be explained by postulating the participation of an abortive complex in product release. Stopped-flow measurements at high aldehyde concentrations indicate that the mechanism of reaction under these conditions is complex.