The aim of this paper is to determine how trust influences SME strategic alliance performance. While strategic alliances provide SMEs with the requisite resources needed for survival and gaining competitive advantage, they are particularly vulnerable to the opportunistic behaviour of partners. The presence of trust in such cases mitigates these perceptions and thereby improves alliance performance. However, extant research has suggested that trust-performance link in an alliance is not uniform in all situations and maybe contingent upon other factors. Through the course of this paper, propositions are developed for multiple drivers that influence the trust-SME alliance performance relationship and a conceptual model is provided. By identifying the means by which trust affects the performance of SME alliances, the paper provides important insights for researchers and managers.