diff --git a/lexer.go b/lexer.go
index 104f3b1..db3ab4e 100644
--- a/lexer.go
+++ b/lexer.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package toml
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
@@ -24,7 +25,7 @@ type tomlLexStateFn func() tomlLexStateFn
 // Define lexer
 type tomlLexer struct {
 	input         *buffruneio.Reader // Textual source
-	buffer        []rune             // Runes composing the current token
+	buffer        bytes.Buffer       // Runes composing the current token
 	tokens        chan token
 	depth         int
 	line          int
@@ -53,13 +54,13 @@ func (l *tomlLexer) next() rune {
 	r := l.read()
 
 	if r != eof {
-		l.buffer = append(l.buffer, r)
+		l.buffer.WriteRune(r)
 	}
 	return r
 }
 
 func (l *tomlLexer) ignore() {
-	l.buffer = make([]rune, 0)
+	l.buffer.Reset()
 	l.line = l.endbufferLine
 	l.col = l.endbufferCol
 }
@@ -85,7 +86,7 @@ func (l *tomlLexer) emitWithValue(t tokenType, value string) {
 }
 
 func (l *tomlLexer) emit(t tokenType) {
-	l.emitWithValue(t, string(l.buffer))
+	l.emitWithValue(t, l.buffer.String())
 }
 
 func (l *tomlLexer) peek() rune {
@@ -536,7 +537,7 @@ func (l *tomlLexer) lexInsideTableArrayKey() tomlLexStateFn {
 	for r := l.peek(); r != eof; r = l.peek() {
 		switch r {
 		case ']':
-			if len(l.buffer) > 0 {
+			if l.buffer.Len() > 0 {
 				l.emit(tokenKeyGroupArray)
 			}
 			l.next()
@@ -559,7 +560,7 @@ func (l *tomlLexer) lexInsideTableKey() tomlLexStateFn {
 	for r := l.peek(); r != eof; r = l.peek() {
 		switch r {
 		case ']':
-			if len(l.buffer) > 0 {
+			if l.buffer.Len() > 0 {
 				l.emit(tokenKeyGroup)
 			}
 			l.next()
diff --git a/lexer_test.go b/lexer_test.go
index 6b324ea..dce7a63 100644
--- a/lexer_test.go
+++ b/lexer_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package toml
 
 import (
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
@@ -748,3 +749,31 @@ func TestLexUnknownRvalue(t *testing.T) {
 		{Position{1, 5}, tokenError, `no value can start with \`},
 	})
 }
+
+func BenchmarkLexer(b *testing.B) {
+	sample := `title = "Hugo: A Fast and Flexible Website Generator"
+baseurl = "http://gohugo.io/"
+MetaDataFormat = "yaml"
+pluralizeListTitles = false
+
+[params]
+  description = "Documentation of Hugo, a fast and flexible static site generator built with love by spf13, bep and friends in Go"
+  author = "Steve Francia (spf13) and friends"
+  release = "0.22-DEV"
+
+[[menu.main]]
+	name = "Download Hugo"
+	pre = "<i class='fa fa-download'></i>"
+	url = "https://github.com/spf13/hugo/releases"
+	weight = -200
+`
+	rd := strings.NewReader(sample)
+
+	b.ResetTimer()
+	for i := 0; i < b.N; i++ {
+		rd.Seek(0, os.SEEK_SET)
+		ch := lexToml(rd)
+		for _ = range ch {
+		}
+	}
+}