diff --git a/lib/ddtrace/pipeline/span_filter.rb b/lib/ddtrace/pipeline/span_filter.rb
index aa5b5d9e17a..ce2952da5cc 100644
--- a/lib/ddtrace/pipeline/span_filter.rb
+++ b/lib/ddtrace/pipeline/span_filter.rb
@@ -10,12 +10,22 @@ def initialize(filter = nil, &block)
         @criteria = filter || block
       end
 
+      # Note: this SpanFilter implementation only handles traces in which child spans appear
+      # after parent spans in the trace array. If in the future child spans can be before
+      # parent spans, then the code below will need to be updated.
       def call(trace)
-        black_list = trace.select(&method(:drop_it?))
-
-        clean_trace(black_list, trace) while black_list.any?
-
-        trace
+        deleted = Set.new
+
+        trace.delete_if do |span|
+          if deleted.include?(span.parent)
+            deleted << span
+            true
+          else
+            drop = drop_it?(span)
+            deleted << span if drop
+            drop
+          end
+        end
       end
 
       private
@@ -23,16 +33,6 @@ def call(trace)
       def drop_it?(span)
         @criteria.call(span) rescue false
       end
-
-      def clean_trace(black_list, trace)
-        current = black_list.shift
-
-        trace.delete(current)
-
-        trace.each do |span|
-          black_list << span if span.parent == current
-        end
-      end
     end
   end
 end