ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of three rice cultivars under saline water irrigation. The experiment was carried out in full sun at the Experimental Farm of the Unilab, in Redenção, Ceará, Brazil, in January 2016. The experimental design was completely randomized (CRD), in a 5 x 3 factorial scheme [irrigation water electrical conductivity (ECw: 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 dS m-1) versus three rice cultivars (C1 - Ligeirinho, C2 - Casado and C3 - Meruinho)], totaling 15 treatments, with 4 replicates of 30 seeds per cultivar. After 21 days, the following variables were evaluated: emergence percentage (EP), emergence speed index (ESI), mean time of emergence (MTE), mean speed of emergence (MSE), shoot dry matter (SDM), root dry matter (RDM) and total dry matter (TDM). The cultivar Ligeirinho showed higher tolerance to saline stress with respect to the emergence percentage, emergence speed index and mean speed of emergence. The cultivar Casado showed higher tolerance to saline stress for shoot dry matter, root dry matter and total dry matter in comparison to the other cultivars.