The thermal desorption of hydrogen isotopes from a metal is usually a second order process the rate for which becomes asymptotically slow. We present a method for enhancing the desorption rate of one particular isotope by maintaining a constant pressure of another molecular species. This results in an effective first order desorption and concommitant exponential decay of the concentration of the selected isotope. Data is presented for the enhanced desorption of deuterium from a Zr–Al getter. The results agree well with a theoretical model, which is discussed. This enhanced desorption method should be particularly useful for tritium operation in the tokamak fusion test reactor.