Ten songs competed in the national final and the winner was selected over two rounds of public voting.

In 2007, "Partners in Crime" performed by Gerli Padar failed to qualify Estonia to the final where the song placed twenty-second in the semi-final.

The competition consisted of a ten-song final on 2 February 2008 at the ERR studios in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Eda-Ines Etti and broadcast on Eesti Televisioon (ETV) as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's official website etv.ee and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.

An 11-member jury panel selected five finalists from the submissions, while an additional five finalists were selected by ERR via composers directly invited for the competition: Alar Kotkas, Elmar Liitmaa, Hendrik Sal-Saller, Priit Pajusaar and Rein Rannap.

[8] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Sahlene, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, and Gerli Padar, who represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, with Taavi Langdi performed as the interval acts.

[10] According to the rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries.

The Estonian performance featured the members of Kreisiraadio performing on stage in yellow, red and blue suits and joined by three dancers in golden tops waving big signs as well as the Serbian, Estonian, German and Finnish flags: Kauna Kõrge-Hårajuvet, Laura Lambut and Merit Reigam.

[14] The stage displayed green, yellow and red colours and the song title "Leto svet" appeared on the LED screens.

[15][16][17] At the end of the show, Estonia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.