This paper presents a comparative investigation of different channel estimation methods for pilot based coherent RAKE combining in DS-CDMA transmission systems. The channel estimation algorithms are based on interpolation of the channel statistics from pilot symbols. The methods for channel estimation are analyzed and compared in terms of BER performance in a multipath channel. Third order Lagrange interpolation is found to be a good choice for channel estimation since it exhibits the best performance with small computational complexity. Mean square error (MSE) for the discussed methods are also presented by means of computer simulations.