BACKGROUND Myringoplasty is an established procedure for closure of tympanic membrane perforations. The quest is on to improve the results further by studying various technique. METHODS In the present randomized prospective study of one-year duration, 103 patients having a dry large or a subtotal perforation were subjected to myringoplasty by overlay (51 cases) and underlay (52 cases) techniques. RESULTS The underlay technique resulted in a 94.2% (49 cases) success rate in comparison with overlay technique in a success rate of 91.5% (46 cases). CONCLUSION From this study we understand that the technical ease, better ossicular judgement, hearing results and healing were found to be better in underlay technique.