Treatment of rats with phenobarbital (PB), 3-methylcholanthrene, and pregnenolone-16 alpha-carbonitrile increased the total (biliary plus urinary) excretion of thioether and glucuronic acid conjugates of acetaminophen (AA) without influencing AA-sulfate excretion, suggesting that these microsomal enzyme inducers enhance both cytochrome P-450-mediated toxication and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase-mediated detoxication of AA. However, induction with transstilbene oxide (TSO) did not increase the total excretion of AA-thioethers or AA-glucuronide and decreased AA-sulfate excretion. In addition, all inducers increased the ratio of AA metabolites excreted into urine over that excreted into bile. The extent of this shift from biliary to urinary excretion was dependent on both the AA metabolite and the inducer. The largest shift in the excretory route was seen with AA-glucuronide and induction with PB and TSO as inducers. Specifically, PB and TSO treatments decreased biliary excretion of AA-glucuronide by 70 and 89%, respectively, and increased its blood concentration up to 6- and 11-fold and urinary excretion 3- and 3.6-fold, respectively. Galactosamine depletes UDP-glucuronic acid from the liver only, thereby inhibiting hepatic but not extrahepatic glucuronidation. Galactosamine treatment prevented the PB-induced increase in AA-glucuronide in blood and urine. This suggests that the PB-induced increases in AA-glucuronide in blood and urine originated from the liver. Thus, microsomal enzyme inducers not only influence xenobiotic biotransformation, but may also after the contribution of the excretory routes (i.e. bile and urine) in the elimination of xenobiotic metabolites by changing the direction of hepatic transport.