OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of the dentin bonding systems (DBS) Tenure, Syntac, Amalgambond and All-Bond 2 using a resin-lined amalgam technique in preventing short-term microleakage in Class V cavity preparations restored with a spherical and an admixed alloy. METHODS Class V cavity preparations were made on the mesial and distal surfaces of non-carious human mandibular molars with the occlusal margins in enamel and gingival margins in cementum. Prepared teeth were randomly assigned to 12 treatment groups (n = 10) consisting of each DBS, no liner and Copalite for both amalgam alloys. Samples were thermocycled, stained and sectioned to evaluate microleakage. RESULTS The DBS-lined restorations had significantly less microleakage at both occlusal and gingival margins than the Copalite and unlined restorations. Among DBS, Syntac had significantly more microleakage with both alloys than either All-Bond 2 or Amalgambond. These results do not totally correlate to a previous study which used the same experimental design but included viscous liners in addition to the same DBS, indicating a potential difference between resin-lined versus resin-bonded amalgam techniques in preventing microleakage.