Potentiation of traditional antibiotics is of significance for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria that have become a severe threat to human and animal health. Here, we report that 1 min co-treatment with -butanol greatly and specifically enhances the bactericidal action of aminoglycosides by 5 orders of magnitude against stationary-phase cells, with -propanol and isobutanol showing less potency. This combined treatment also rapidly kills various persisters, methicillin-resistant (MRSA) cells, and numerous Gram-positive and -negative pathogens including some clinically isolated multidrug-resistant pathogens (, , , and ) , as well as in mice. Mechanistically, the potentiation results from the actions of aminoglycosides on their conventional target ribosome rather than the antiseptic effect of -butanol and is achieved by rapidly enhancing the bacterial uptake of aminoglycosides, while salts and inhibitors of proton motive force (, CCCP) can diminish this uptake. Importantly, such -butanol-enhanced antibiotic uptake even enables subinhibitory concentrations of aminoglycosides to rapidly kill both MRSA and conventional cells. Given -butanol is a non-metabolite in the pathogens we tested, our work may open avenues to develop a metabolite-independent strategy for aminoglycoside potentiation to rapidly eliminate antibiotic-resistant/tolerant pathogens, as well as for reducing the toxicity associated with aminoglycoside use.