A series N-hydroxysuccinimide esters of acylamino acids previously shown to acylate and thereby increase the activity of thermolysin by several orders of magnitude (Blumberg, S., and Vallee, B. L. (1975), Biochemistry 14, 2410) has been used to modify the related neutral proteases from Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, and Aeromonas proteolytica. Each of these enzymes is activated to a level characteristic of the particular protein and the particular acyl group incorpporated when monitored with the substrate furylacryloyl-Gly-Leu-NH2. Thus, for the modification of B. megaterium, B. subtilis, and A. proteolytica proteases with Ac-Trp-ONSu, kcat/Km increases 11-, 2.5-, and 18-fold whereas those of the Ac-Phe(4-DnpNH)-ONSu modified enzymes before and after deacylation with hydroxylamine indicate that from 1 to 2 residues are modified. The rate of removal of the Ac-Phe(4-DnpNH) label by 0.1 M hydroxylamine correlates directly with that of the return of native enzymatic activity, at a rate comparable with the rate of deacylation of O-acyltyrosine models. The competitive inhibitors Zn2+ and beta-phenyl-propionyl-Phe do not prevent activation indicating that modification occurs at a site(s) distinct from that at which inhibitors bind. The degree of activation depends also on the substrate employed, generally being greater for substrates which the native enzymes hydrolyze slowly. These data are interpreted to indicate the modification of a residue near the active site, but which serves as a subsite for substrate interaction.