Abstract: A diesel fuel containing an additive which improves the combustion of soot, for reducing the pollutant emission in the combustion exhaust gases from diesel engines by discontinuous burning-off of soot which has been precipitated in the exhaust gas filter, is described. For this purpose, a lithium, sodium or potassium salt of an aliphatic or aromatic alcohol, of a phenol, of an aliphatic acid or of a naphthoic acid, phenylacetic acid or cinnamic acid is added, singly or as a mixture, to the diesel fuel before the combustion of the latter in the internal combustion engine. As a result of the addition of the alkali metal salts, the ignition temperature of the soot precipitated in the particle filter is reduced, and the soot is oxidized at a temperature which is considerably lower than the normal ignition temperature. The regeneration range for the particle filter is therefore reached much more frequently in real running practice.