Mission controllers for Venus Express said it will orbit the planetary neighbour for about 500 days to study its atmosphere, and hopefully provide information to help scientists gain some insight into the mechanisms of climate change on Earth.
The probe's main engine was switched on for 50 minutes to help reduce its speed and allow it to be caught in the planet's gravitational pull, said the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
Venus' atmosphere is 90 times denser than that of Earth, and is surrounded in toxic clouds of sulphuric acid.
The mission hopes to answer questions about how a planet so similar to Earth could have turned out so differently.
Thanks to the super-greenhouse effect caused by its dense atmosphere, the surface of Venus can reach 500 degrees Celsius -- hot enough to melt lead.
The crushing atmospheric pressure is 100 times that on Earth and burning sulphuric acid rain falls from noxious chemical clouds.
Venus Express carries an array of sensitive spectrometers and cameras designed to peer through the atmosphere.
The instruments will analyse the chemical make-up of the atmosphere's lower layers and gather detailed images of the surface.
The spacecraft will also analyse the planet's geology and search for signs of present volcanic or seismic activity.