The objective of the present investigation is to assess the effects of viscosity variations in low-speed temporally-evolving turbulent mixing layer. The two streams are density-matched, but the slow fluid is R (nu) times more viscous than the rapid stream. Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) are performed for several viscosity ratios, R (nu) = nu (h i g h) /nu (l o w) , varying between 1 and 9. The space-time evolution of Variable-Viscosity Flow (VVF) is compared with that of the Constant-Viscosity Flow (CVF), for which R (nu) = 1. The initial Reynolds number, based on the initial momentum thickness, delta (oee integral,0), is for the considered cases. The study focuses on the first stages of the temporal evolution of the mixing-layer. It is shown that in VVF (with respect to CVF): (i) the velocity fluctuations occur earlier and are more enhanced for VVF. In particular, the kinetic energy peaks earlier and is up to three times larger for VVF than for CVF at the earliest stages of the flow. Over the first stages of the flow, the temporal growth rate of the fluctuations kinetic energy is exponential, in full agreement with linear stability theory. (ii) large-scale quantities, i.e. mean longitudinal velocity and momentum thickness, are affected by the viscosity variations, thus dispelling the myth that viscosity is a small-scale quantity that affects little the large scales. (iii) the transport equation for the fluctuations kinetic energy is derived and favourably compared with simulations data. The enhanced kinetic energy for VVF is mainly due to an increased production at the interface between the two fluids, in tight correlation with enlarged values of mean velocity gradient at the inflection point of the mean velocity profile.