DROP The DROP command removes a table from the database. All the tables' rows, indexes and privileges will also be removed. No DML triggers will be fired. The operation cannot be rolled back. TRUNCATE TRUNCATE removes all rows from a table. The operation cannot be rolled back and no triggers will be fired. As such, TRUNCATE is faster and doesn't use as much undo space as a DELETE. Table level lock will be added when Truncating. DELETE The DELETE command is used to remove rows from a table. A WHERE clause can be used to only remove some rows. If no WHERE condition is specified, all rows will be removed. After performing a DELETE operation you need to COMMIT or ROLLBACK the transaction to make the change permanent or to undo it. Note that this operation will cause all DELETE triggers on the table to fire. Row level lock will be added when deleting.

来自:http://www.orafaq.com/faq/difference_between_truncate_delete_and_drop_commands

TRUNCATE是DDL语句，而DELETE是DML语句。以下是两者的区别:

As TRUNCATE is a DDL (Data definition language) statement it does not require a commit to make the changes permanent. And this is the reason why rows deleted by truncate could not be rollbacked. On the other hand DELETE is a DML (Data manipulation language) statement hence requires explicit commit to make its effect permanent. TRUNCATE always removes all the rows from a table, leaving the table empty and the table structure intact whereas DELETE may remove conditionally if the where clause is used. The rows deleted by TRUNCATE TABLE statement cannot be restored and you can not specify the where clause in the TRUNCATE statement. TRUNCATE statements does not fire triggers as opposed of on delete trigger on DELETE statement

这里有一个非常好的与主题相关的链接。

Truncate and Delete in SQL are two commands which is used to remove or delete data from table. Though quite basic in nature both Sql commands can create lot of trouble until you are familiar with details before using it. An Incorrect choice of command can result is either very slow process or can even blew up log segment, if too much data needs to be removed and log segment is not enough. That's why it's critical to know when to use truncate and delete command in SQL but before using these you should be aware of the Differences between Truncate and Delete, and based upon them, we should be able to find out when DELETE is better option for removing data or TRUNCATE should be used to purge tables.

参考资料请点击这里

都是很好的答案，我必须补充一句:

由于TRUNCATE TABLE是一个DDL(数据定义语言)命令，而不是DML(数据操作语言)命令，删除触发器不会运行。

在这个例子中，Truncate也可以被rollback

begin Tran
delete from  Employee

select * from Employee
Rollback
select * from Employee

这两个操作的另一个区别是，如果表包含一个标识列，则在TRUNCATE下该列的计数器将重置1(或为该列定义的种子值)。DELETE没有这种影响。