This article presents the technical aspects of a linear filter, referred to as eigenimage filtering, and its application in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. The technique is used to obtain a single composite image depicting a particular feature of interest while supressing one or more interfering features. The appropriate weighting components to be used in the linear filter are determined on the criterion that the desired feature is enhanced while the interfering features are supressed. The criterion is expressed mathematically as a ratio. By applying Rayleigh's principle, the ratio is maximixed by finding the eigenvector associated with the maximum eigenvalu of the corresponding generalized eigenvalue problem. The appropriate weighting factors for the linear filter are the elements of the eigenvector which maximizes the ratio. The utilization of the technique is demonstrated in its application to a simulated MR image sequence as well as to acquired MR image sequences of a normal and an abnormal brain. Abstract