Multiple access interferecnce (MAI) is a major factor limiting the performance of direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. Since the amount of MAI is dependent on the correlation among user signals, one way to reduce it is to reduce such correlation. In mobile multiuser communication, each user experiences a different time-varying channel response. This user-dependent characteristic in channel variation can be exploited to assist the separation of different user signals, in addition to the capability provided by the spreading codes. As the correlation among different user channels are expected to decrease with increase in time span, enhanced decorrelation among different users' signals can be effected by spacing out the chips of one modulated symbol in time. Thus we consider chip-interleaving DS-CDMA (CI-DS-CDMA) in this study. We investigate its performance through theoretical analysis and computer simulation. Employing only a slightly modified rake receiver structure, CI-DS-CDMA is shown to attain significant performance gain over conventional DS-CDMA, in multiple access communication over single- and multi-path fading channels, without complicated multiuser detection. CI-DS-CDMA also has a lower demand for short-term power control than conventional DS-CDMA, especially in one-path Rayleigh fading. Results of the theoretical analysis and the computer simulation agree well with each other.