 <p>Set an <code>onkeyup</code> or <code>onkeydown</code> event on your textarea, the latter is better because it fires before the new line is added to the textarea</p> <pre><code>var $form = $( '#yourForm' ); $( '#yourTextArea' ).keydown(function( e ){ if( e.keyCode == 13 ){ $form.submit(); } }); $form.submit(function(){ alert( 'submitted' ); return false; }); </code></pre>