The facelift for the second generation of the Mercedes-Benz ML marked its debut at the 2008 New York International Auto Salon, in March.
It showed improvements on the outside and the inside as well.

While the first generation of the ML started on the wrong foot with a ladder-chassis under the bodywork, its successor came well prepared in 2005 with unibody construction. It was lighter, nimbler, and with an all-wheel independent suspension that offered more comfort and better cornering speed.

For the outside, there was an improvement for the headlights and the front bumper, where a wider gap was formed under the grille, to leave more room to cool the engine. For some engine versions, the cooling was an issue before the facelift and that gap was part of the solution. In the back, there was a new slightly modified bumper design. A new design for the door-mirrors was applied.

Inside, there was an option for a new Meda Interface. A new color display was installed, and the system allowed Bluetooth connectivity with music streaming. A USB port was introduced to allow connection to a mobile phone, streaming music from it and charge it at the same time. The new Media Interface allowed the Linguatronic system, with voice commands.

For the engine compartment, there were improvements for the diesel units that featured a Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) with an injection of DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid), also known as AdBlue which helps reduce the pollution. There were four diesel units and two gasoline, apart from the AMG version.