Through this study it was possible to determine the best conditions for performing the pretreatments of melon slices immersed in osmotic sucrose solution or distilled water and submitted to ultrasound and/or vacuum in order to obtain higher water loss and lower solid gain. The selected pretreatments conditions consisted on immersing fruit slices in sucrose solution for 10 min under vacuum, distilled water for 10 min under ultrasonic waves and distilled water for 20 min under the combination of vacuum and ultrasound. Conventional drying in a sequence of pretreatment resulted in the reduction of the drying time compared to melons submitted only to conventional drying, but it was not efficient to protect samples from carotenoid losses. Dried melon pretreated using ultrasound and vacuum combined obtained lower total carotenoids loss, softer texture and better color preservation. Sensory evaluation showed that this pretreated sample had good acceptance. The findings of this study may be important to provide information for the development of new pretreatment conditions before drying of fruits, being an alternative to traditional drying and suitable to an industrial context