Vapour phase ethylation of aniline was carried out over alkali and alkaline earth exchanged zeolites Y and beta. Reaction conditions were optimised for N-alkylation by varying reaction parameters like temperature, WHSV, mole ratio and time on stream. Over all zeolites, N-alkylation is much higher than C-alkylation. Diethyl carbonate is a better N-alkylating agent than ethanol. Among the catalysts studied, K beta is a good N-monoalkylating catalyst with 41% aniline conversion and 100% selectivity at 473 K, WHSV 19.8 h(-1) and diethyl carbonate/aniline ratio 2.