•Transesterification of parabens occurred when incubated with liver or small-intestinal microsomes, and alcohols.•Rat liver-type enzyme showed a preference for short-chain parabens, such as propylparaben.•Rat small-intestinal-type enzyme showed a preference for long-chain parabens, especially octylparaben.•Human liver and small-intestinal microsomes showed similar substrate specificities to those of rats.•Human CES1b and CES1c showed liver-type substrate specificity, and CES2 showed small-intestinal-type specificity. Hydrolytic transformation of parabens (4-hydroxybenzoic acid esters; used as antibacterial agents) to 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and alcohols by tissue microsomes is well-known both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we investigated transesterification reactions of parabens catalyzed by rat and human microsomes, using a series of 12 parabens with C1–C12 alcohol side chains. Transesterification of parabens by rat liver and small-intestinal microsomes occurred in the presence of alcohols in the microsomal incubation mixture. Among the 12 parabens, propylparaben was most effectively transesterified by rat liver microsomes with methanol or ethanol, followed by butylparaben. Relatively low activity was observed with longer-side-chain parabens. In contrast, small-intestinal microsomes exhibited higher activity towards moderately long side-chain parabens, and showed the highest activity toward octylparaben. When parabens were incubated with liver or small-intestinal microsomes in the presence of C1–C12 alcohols, ethanol and decanol were most effectively transferred to parabens by rat liver microsomes and small-intestinal microsomes, respectively. Human liver and small-intestinal microsomes also exhibited significant transesterification activities with different substrate specificities, like rat microsomes. Carboxylesterase isoforms, CES1b and CES1c, and CES2, exhibited significant transesterification activity toward parabens, and showed similar substrate specificity to human liver and small-intestinal microsomes, respectively.