Abstract In this paper an application of Immune Algorithm (IA) to frequency sampling technique in FIR digital filter design is presented. Two examples of lowpass and highpass FIR filter are provided. Experimental data have shown that the value of transition band sample obtained by IA can be ensured to be optimal and the frequency characteristic of the filter is improved. The comparison is made between IA and Genetic Algorithm (GA) in the application, and the convergence speed of IA is faster than that of GA.