diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f710901..2a5b78f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 - Lexers can now use `pub(crate)` visibility, and other visibilities supported
   by Rust and the `syn` crate. Previously only `pub` was supported.
 
+- Eliminate redundant `backtrack` calls in generated code, improving code size
+  and runtime performance. Runtime performance improved 13% in a benchmark.
+  (#69)
+
 # 2023/09/03: 0.15.0
 
 - Lexer type declarations can now have outer attributes other than just
diff --git a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa.rs b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa.rs
index 4c1fa73..6a0d974 100644
--- a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa.rs
+++ b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+mod backtrack;
 pub mod codegen;
 pub mod simplify;
 
@@ -7,6 +8,7 @@ pub mod simulate;
 use crate::collections::{Map, Set};
 use crate::nfa::AcceptingState;
 use crate::range_map::{Range, RangeMap};
+pub(crate) use backtrack::update_backtracks;
 
 use std::convert::TryFrom;
 use std::iter::{FromIterator, IntoIterator};
@@ -44,6 +46,7 @@ pub struct State<T, A> {
     /// Predecessors of the state, used to inline code for a state with one predecessor in the
     /// predecessor's code.
     predecessors: Set<StateIdx>,
+    backtrack: bool,
 }
 
 impl<T, A> State<T, A> {
@@ -56,6 +59,7 @@ impl<T, A> State<T, A> {
             end_of_input_transition: None,
             accepting: vec![],
             predecessors: Default::default(),
+            backtrack: false,
         }
     }
 
@@ -93,7 +97,6 @@ impl<A> DFA<StateIdx, A> {
         new_state_idx
     }
 
-    #[cfg(test)]
     pub fn is_accepting_state(&self, state: StateIdx) -> bool {
         !self.states[state.0].accepting.is_empty()
     }
@@ -179,6 +182,7 @@ impl<A> DFA<StateIdx, A> {
             end_of_input_transition,
             accepting,
             predecessors,
+            backtrack,
         } in other.states
         {
             let mut new_char_transitions: Map<char, StateIdx> = Default::default();
@@ -213,6 +217,7 @@ impl<A> DFA<StateIdx, A> {
                 end_of_input_transition: new_end_of_input_transition,
                 accepting,
                 predecessors,
+                backtrack,
             });
         }
 
@@ -239,6 +244,7 @@ impl<A> Display for DFA<StateIdx, A> {
                 end_of_input_transition,
                 accepting,
                 predecessors: _,
+                backtrack,
             } = state;
 
             if !accepting.is_empty() {
@@ -301,6 +307,14 @@ impl<A> Display for DFA<StateIdx, A> {
                 writeln!(f, "$ -> {}", next)?;
             }
 
+            if *backtrack {
+                if !first {
+                    write!(f, "      ")?;
+                }
+
+                writeln!(f, "backtrack")?;
+            }
+
             if char_transitions.is_empty()
                 && range_transitions.is_empty()
                 && any_transition.is_none()
diff --git a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/backtrack.rs b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/backtrack.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aaa97ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/backtrack.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+use crate::collections::Map;
+use crate::dfa::{StateIdx, DFA};
+
+use std::collections::hash_map::Entry;
+
+pub(crate) fn update_backtracks<A>(dfa: &mut DFA<StateIdx, A>) {
+    // State and whether the state is an accepting state.
+    let mut work_list: Vec<(StateIdx, bool)> = dfa
+        .states
+        .iter()
+        .enumerate()
+        .filter_map(|(state_idx, state)| {
+            if state.initial {
+                Some((StateIdx(state_idx), false))
+            } else {
+                None
+            }
+        })
+        .collect();
+
+    // Set of visited nodes, with their backtrack state when visited. If a state's backtrack
+    // property changes, we visit it again to make its successors backtrack.
+    let mut visited: Map<StateIdx, bool> = Default::default();
+
+    while let Some((state, backtrack)) = work_list.pop() {
+        // Did we visit the state, with the right backtrack state?
+        match visited.entry(state) {
+            Entry::Occupied(mut entry) => {
+                if *entry.get() == backtrack {
+                    continue;
+                }
+                entry.insert(backtrack);
+            }
+            Entry::Vacant(entry) => {
+                entry.insert(backtrack);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Whether the successor states should backtrack.
+        let successor_backtrack = backtrack || dfa.is_accepting_state(state);
+
+        for (_, next) in &dfa.states[state.0].char_transitions {
+            work_list.push((*next, successor_backtrack));
+        }
+
+        for next_range in dfa.states[state.0].range_transitions.iter() {
+            work_list.push((next_range.value, successor_backtrack));
+        }
+
+        if let Some(next) = dfa.states[state.0].any_transition {
+            work_list.push((next, successor_backtrack));
+        }
+
+        if let Some(next) = dfa.states[state.0].end_of_input_transition {
+            work_list.push((next, successor_backtrack));
+        }
+    }
+
+    assert_eq!(visited.len(), dfa.states.len());
+
+    for (state, backtrack) in visited {
+        dfa.states[state.0].backtrack = backtrack;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/codegen.rs b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/codegen.rs
index f4fb919..fef25fa 100644
--- a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/codegen.rs
+++ b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/codegen.rs
@@ -393,17 +393,30 @@ fn generate_state(
         end_of_input_transition,
         accepting,
         predecessors: _,
+        backtrack,
     } = state;
 
     let fail = || -> TokenStream {
-        let action = generate_semantic_action_call(&quote!(semantic_action));
-        quote!(match self.0.backtrack() {
-            Err(err) => {
+        if *backtrack || !accepting.is_empty() {
+            let action = generate_semantic_action_call(&quote!(semantic_action));
+            quote!(match self.0.backtrack() {
+                Err(err) => {
+                    self.reset_match();
+                    return Some(Err(err))
+                }
+                Ok(semantic_action) => #action,
+            })
+        } else {
+            quote!({
+                let location = self.match_loc().0;
                 self.reset_match();
-                return Some(Err(err))
-            }
-            Ok(semantic_action) => #action,
-        })
+                self.0.__state = 0;
+                return Some(Err(::lexgen_util::LexerError {
+                    location,
+                    kind: ::lexgen_util::LexerErrorKind::InvalidToken,
+                }));
+            })
+        }
     };
 
     // When we can't take char or range transitions, take the 'any' transition if it exists, or
@@ -797,6 +810,7 @@ fn generate_right_ctx_state_arm(
         end_of_input_transition,
         accepting,
         predecessors: _,
+        backtrack: _,
     } = state;
 
     let state_char_arms =
diff --git a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/simplify.rs b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/simplify.rs
index 0847577..c276c6d 100644
--- a/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/simplify.rs
+++ b/crates/lexgen/src/dfa/simplify.rs
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ pub fn simplify<K, A: Clone>(
                 end_of_input_transition,
                 accepting,
                 predecessors,
+                backtrack,
             } = state;
 
             let char_transitions = char_transitions
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ pub fn simplify<K, A: Clone>(
                 end_of_input_transition,
                 accepting,
                 predecessors,
+                backtrack,
             }
         })
         .collect();
diff --git a/crates/lexgen/src/lib.rs b/crates/lexgen/src/lib.rs
index 7faa5f6..d1a1eef 100644
--- a/crates/lexgen/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/lexgen/src/lib.rs
@@ -140,11 +140,13 @@ pub fn lexer(input: TokenStream) -> TokenStream {
         }
     }
 
-    let dfa = match init_dfa {
+    let mut dfa = match init_dfa {
         Some(init_dfa) => init_dfa,
         None => nfa_to_dfa(&unnamed_nfa),
     };
 
+    dfa::update_backtracks(&mut dfa);
+
     let dfa = dfa::simplify::simplify(dfa, &mut dfas);
 
     dfa::codegen::generate(