Index: src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/XWikiVelocityRenderer.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/XWikiVelocityRenderer.java	(revision 25396)
+++ src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/XWikiVelocityRenderer.java	(working copy)
@@ -59,6 +59,10 @@
      */
     public String render(String content, XWikiDocument contentdoc, XWikiDocument contextdoc, XWikiContext context)
     {
+        if (!mayRequireEvaluation(content)) {
+            return content;
+        }
+
         VelocityManager velocityManager = (VelocityManager) Utils.getComponent(VelocityManager.class);
         VelocityContext vcontext = velocityManager.getVelocityContext();
         Document previousdoc = (Document) vcontext.get("doc");
@@ -89,6 +93,17 @@
             }
         }
     }
+    
+    /**
+     * A string may require evalution only if it contains '$' or '#',
+     * otherwise it's just a plain text
+     * 
+     * @param content string to analyze
+     * @return true if content may require evalution, false otherwise 
+     */
+    private boolean mayRequireEvaluation(String content) {
+        return StringUtils.containsAny(content, "$#");
+    }
 
     /**
      * {@inheritDoc}
Index: src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/XWikiMacrosMappingRenderer.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/XWikiMacrosMappingRenderer.java	(revision 25396)
+++ src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/XWikiMacrosMappingRenderer.java	(working copy)
@@ -149,6 +149,10 @@
      */
     public String render(String content, XWikiDocument contentdoc, XWikiDocument doc, XWikiContext context)
     {
+        if (!mayContainMacros(content)) {
+            return content;
+        }
+
         if (this.macros_libraries == null) {
             loadPreferences(context.getWiki(), context);
         }
@@ -159,6 +163,39 @@
         return content;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * A string may contain macros only if it contains 
+     * '{' that is not preceded by '$', '#' or "$!"
+     * 
+     *  @param content string to analyze 
+     *  @return true if content may contain macros, false otherwise
+     */
+    private boolean mayContainMacros(String content) {
+        if (StringUtils.isEmpty(content)) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        // content not empty --> it has at least one character
+        if (content.charAt(0) == '{') {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        int idx = 0;
+        // find next '{'
+        while ((idx=content.indexOf('{', idx+1)) != -1) {
+            // is '$' or '#' before '{' ?
+            if (content.charAt(idx-1) != '$' && content.charAt(idx-1) != '#') {
+                // no, is "$!" before "{" ?
+                if (idx >= 2) {
+                    if (content.charAt(idx-2) != '$' || content.charAt(idx-1) != '!') {
+                        // no
+                        return true; // otherwise continue while
+                    } 
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+    
     private String convertSingleLines(String content, XWikiContext context)
     {
         StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
Index: src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/DefaultXWikiRenderingEngine.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/DefaultXWikiRenderingEngine.java	(revision 25396)
+++ src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/render/DefaultXWikiRenderingEngine.java	(working copy)
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.xwiki.cache.Cache;
@@ -205,6 +206,12 @@
     private String renderText(String text, boolean onlyInterpret, XWikiDocument contentdoc, XWikiDocument includingdoc,
         XWikiContext context)
     {
+        // performance optimization: if text doesn't contain special characters
+        // then it's just a plain text --> no processing required
+        if (StringUtils.containsNone(text, "#${")) {
+            return text;
+        }
+        
         String key = getKey(text, contentdoc, includingdoc, context);
         int currentCacheDuration = context.getCacheDuration();
 
Index: src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/doc/XWikiDocument.java
===================================================================
--- src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/doc/XWikiDocument.java	(revision 25396)
+++ src/main/java/com/xpn/xwiki/doc/XWikiDocument.java	(working copy)
@@ -147,6 +147,8 @@
     /** The default wiki name to use when one isn't specified. */
     private static final String DEFAULT_WIKI_NAME = "xwiki";
 
+    private static final String HTML_SPECIAL_CHARS = "<>&'\"";
+
     /**
      * Regex Pattern to recognize if there's HTML code in a XWiki page.
      */
@@ -839,6 +841,11 @@
             if (!StringUtils.isEmpty(title)) {
                 title = context.getWiki().getRenderingEngine().interpretText(title, this, context);
 
+                if (Syntax.PLAIN_1_0.equals(outputSyntax) && StringUtils.containsNone(title, HTML_SPECIAL_CHARS)) {
+                    // title is already in plain text --> no syntax conversion required
+                    return title;
+                }
+                
                 if (!outputSyntax.equals(Syntax.HTML_4_01) && !outputSyntax.equals(Syntax.XHTML_1_0)) {
                     XDOM xdom = parseContent(Syntax.HTML_4_01.toIdString(), title);
                     this.parserUtils.removeTopLevelParagraph(xdom.getChildren());