The aim of this study was to compare the microleakage of total-etch and self-etch adhesives by three methods including dye extraction, dye penetration and fluid filtration with determining the correlation value among these techniques. Seventy-two premolar teeth were selected for this in vitro study and Class 5 cavities were prepared on the buccal surface of these at the cementoenamel junction area. It was applied for half of these cavities, Optibond Solo Plus (OSP) (two-step etch & rinse) and another half, Optibond All-in-One (OA) (one-step self-etch) and then all of them were restored with a light cure resin composite; Herculite XRV. Then samples were divided randomly into three subgroups based on the method of microleakage measurement (n = 12). In the first pair group, leakage was assessed by the dye extraction method. Dye penetration and fluid filtration methods were used in the second and third pair groups for the same purpose respectively. Data were analyzed by Paired t-test and Wilcoxon test and correlation coefficients (α = 0.05). There was no significant difference in the dye extraction (P = 0.657) and dye penetration (P = 0.732) methods between the microleakage of total-etch and self-etch adhesives. Microleakage of self-etch adhesive in fluid filtration technique was significantly more than total-etch adhesive (P = 0.012). No significant correlation was found among the results obtained with the three methods of microleakage evaluation. Adhesive systems showed variously behave in different methods of microleakage assessment.