Two experiments were conducted to determine the efficacy of lactalbumin and lactose components of dried whey on gain and feed performance responses and N retention of weanling swine. In Exp. 1, a 2 x 5 factorial arrangement of treatments in a randomized complete block design in seven replicates was used to evaluate the efficacy of two dietary lysine levels (.90 and 1.30%) in 1) a corn-soybean meal (C-SBM) mixture, 2) C-SBM and 20% dried whey (C-SBM-DW), or the dried whey component replaced with 3 lactalbumin and cornstarch, 4) lactose and an amino acid mixture, or 5) the combination of lactalbumin and lactose. A total of 420 pigs weaned at 23 +/- 2 d of age, weighing an average of 6.87 kg BW, were used in a 3-wk experiment. Experiment 2 was a balance trial conducted as a 3 x 2 x 3 factorial arrangement in a split-plot design in three replicates. The negative (i.e., C-SBM) and positive (i.e., C-SBM-DS) control diets and the C-SBM-lactalbumin-cornstarch diets at the two lysine levels of Exp. 1 were the main plots, each evaluated for a 3-wk postweaning period. Growth rate (P less than .05), feed intake (P less than .01), N retention (P less than .01), and apparent N digestibility (P less than .05) were increased when pigs were fed the C-SBM-DW compared with the C-SBM diet.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)