The world No 1 came into the tournament without having played a warm-up event following knee problems at the end of last season.
But he was anything but rusty as he raced to a 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win in just an hour and 34 minutes.
Veteran Estrella Burgos was not expected to provide too much of a challenge to Nadal and so it proved.
The 37-year-old from the Dominican Republic earned a rousing reception when, after a long game, he broke the Nadal serve to avoid losing the second set to love.
But it was simply a minor detour for Nadal who, in his first match since his uncle Toni stopped travelling as his coach, could barely have asked for a better outing.
Things were equally straightforward for Australian title hope Nick Kyrgios, who promised a new mature approach ahead of the tournament and largely delivered in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Rogerio Dutra Silva.
Kyrgios received a code violation for swearing at a spectator who he felt was being too noisy but there were no alarms on court.
The 17th seed is unbeaten so far this season having won the warm-up event in Brisbane and faces Serbian Viktor Troicki in round two.
Elsewhere, a terrible day for America in the women's draw was compounded by defeats for eighth seed Jack Sock and John Isner.
