This paper proposes an intelligent transient calibration method for the air-path controller of a light-duty diesel engine. This method is developed based on the chaos-enhanced accelerated particle swarm optimization (CAPSO) algorithm. The target is to reduce the engine's fuel consumption during transient scenarios by optimizing the controller parameters. The advanced dual-loop EGR system is firstly introduced. Then it formulates the transient calibration process as a multiple-objective optimization problem with constraints. Different from steady state calibration, the proposed method designs a new cost-function to evaluate the controller's transient performance. The intelligent transient calibration module is programmed in MATLAB code. Interface between the calibration module and a physical engine plant is established via ETAS INCA. The optimization result of the proposal method is discussed by comparing it with the result of existing calibration methods. The engine performance with the calibrated controller is evaluated based on engine tests.