BACKGROUND: Tetranychus evansi and T. urticae spider mites are known major pests of Solanaceae. Smallholder farmers in Africa rely heavily on pesticide treatments. But farmers claim pesticides are generally ineffective despite high frequency sprays. New management solutions are thus urgently needed. This study was carried out to assess the efficacy of using acaricide-treated nets combined with the predatory mite release for controlling spider mites. RESULTS: The results showed the acaricide-treated net alone reduced more effectively densities of T. urticae than T. evansi. We observed the contrary for the release of the predatory mite Phytoseiulus longipes. This difference could be explained by the specific dispersion strategies of the spider mite pests—as T. evansi is gregarious and T. urticae dispersed rapidly. Joint application of both techniques resulted in a synergetic effect that decreased T. evansi and T. urticae spider mite densities close to zero. The synergetic effect could be explained by the predator avoidance behaviour of the prey spider mites, resulting in higher prey trapping and killing rates on the acaricide-treated nets and meanwhile P. longipes fed on the spider mite eggs. CONCLUSION: These techniques are profitable for smallholder farmers as they are not expensive and avoid residues on the crop.