Establishing a model for small-for-size liver transplantation is the basis for this study of partial and living donor graft liver transplantation. This study aims to explore a simpler and more effective way of establishing a 30% small-for-size liver transplantation in rats. Sprague- Dawley rats were selected as the donors and recipients. Small-for-size orthotopic liver transplantation was performed using Kamada's two-cuff method. The donor's liver was flushed via the abdominal aorta and hepatectomy was performed in situ. The animals were divided into three groups depending on the graft selected, with 40 pairs of rats in each group. In group I, the median lobe of the liver was used as graft; in group II, the right half of the median lobe and the right lobe were used as graft; and in group III, the median and right lobes were used as graft. In groups I and II, the bodyweights of donors were the same as those of recipients; however, in group III the bodyweights of donors were 100-120 g less than those of the recipients. The duration needed for transplantation, the 7-day survival rates, and the technical complication rates were compared among these three groups. The time required for hepatectomy was shorter in group III compared with groups I and II (8.8±0.7 min vs. 11.5±1.1 min and 10.1±1.0 min, P = 0.001). The cold ischemia time for the grafts, the anhepatic times, and the transplantation times for the recipients were not significantly different among the three groups. Compared with groups I and II, the incidence of bleeding, bile leakage, and inferior vena caval strictures were significantly decreased in group III (P<0.05). No significant differences between the three groups were found based on other complications after the operation (P>0.05). Group III had better 7-day survival rates and longer median survival times but the differences were not statistically significant. The method of small for donor bodyweight using the median and right lobes for grafting may be a more effective and simpler way of establishing a 30% small-for-size liver transplantation in rats, as shown by the shorter hepatectomy time and the occurrence of fewer complications after the operation. © Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.