In this paper, an attempt is made to characterize the preservation technology for deteriorating items in order to reduce the deterioration rate. This model assumes a deteriorating inventory model with trapezoidal type demand by allowing preservation technology cost as a decision variable. Holding cost is assumed to be a time dependent. The model with no shortage case in inventory is first solved. The inventory shortage is discussed next. A solution procedure is presented to determine an optimal replenishment cycle and total cost per unit time, which is a convex function of preservation technology cost. Results have been validated with relevant examples. Sensitivity analysis is performed to show the effect of changes in the parameters on the optimum solution. The analysis of the model shows that the solution of the model is quite stable and can be applied for optimizing the total inventory cost of deteriorating items inventory for the business enterprises where they use the preservation technology to reduce the deterioration rate of the inventory items. © 2015, German Academic Society for Production Engineering (WGP).