diff --git a/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/directive.rs b/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/directive.rs
index 66ca23dc41..bdc72cb496 100644
--- a/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/directive.rs
+++ b/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/directive.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 pub(crate) use crate::filter::directive::{FilterVec, ParseError, StaticDirective};
+use crate::filter::env::field::CallsiteMatch;
 use crate::filter::{
     directive::{DirectiveSet, Match},
     env::{field, FieldMap},
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ pub(crate) type SpanMatcher = MatchSet<field::SpanMatch>;
 pub(crate) struct MatchSet<T> {
     field_matches: FilterVec<T>,
     base_level: LevelFilter,
+    target: Option<String>,
 }
 
 impl Directive {
@@ -362,9 +364,19 @@ impl From<Level> for Directive {
 impl Dynamics {
     pub(crate) fn matcher(&self, metadata: &Metadata<'_>) -> Option<CallsiteMatcher> {
         let mut base_level = None;
+        let mut target = None::<String>;
         let field_matches = self
             .directives_for(metadata)
             .filter_map(|d| {
+                if let Some(ref matcher_target) = d.target {
+                    match target {
+                        Some(ref inner_target) if inner_target.len() < matcher_target.len() => {
+                            target = Some(matcher_target.clone())
+                        }
+                        None => target = Some(matcher_target.clone()),
+                        _ => {}
+                    }
+                }
                 if let Some(f) = d.field_matcher(metadata) {
                     return Some(f);
                 }
@@ -381,11 +393,13 @@ impl Dynamics {
             Some(CallsiteMatcher {
                 field_matches,
                 base_level,
+                target,
             })
         } else if !field_matches.is_empty() {
             Some(CallsiteMatcher {
                 field_matches,
                 base_level: base_level.unwrap_or(LevelFilter::OFF),
+                target,
             })
         } else {
             None
@@ -415,6 +429,7 @@ impl CallsiteMatcher {
         SpanMatcher {
             field_matches,
             base_level: self.base_level,
+            target: self.target.clone(),
         }
     }
 }
@@ -429,6 +444,10 @@ impl SpanMatcher {
             .unwrap_or(self.base_level)
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn target(&self) -> Option<String> {
+        self.target.clone()
+    }
+
     pub(crate) fn record_update(&self, record: &span::Record<'_>) {
         for m in &self.field_matches {
             record.record(&mut m.visitor())
diff --git a/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/mod.rs b/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/mod.rs
index 92f43a1443..f4752021b6 100644
--- a/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/mod.rs
+++ b/tracing-subscriber/src/filter/env/mod.rs
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ pub struct EnvFilter {
 }
 
 thread_local! {
-    static SCOPE: RefCell<Vec<LevelFilter>> = RefCell::new(Vec::new());
+    static SCOPE: RefCell<Vec<(LevelFilter, Option<String>)>> = RefCell::new(Vec::new());
 }
 
 type FieldMap<T> = HashMap<Field, T>;
@@ -422,8 +422,13 @@ impl<S: Subscriber> Layer<S> for EnvFilter {
             }
 
             let enabled_by_scope = SCOPE.with(|scope| {
-                for filter in scope.borrow().iter() {
-                    if filter >= level {
+                for (filter, target) in scope.borrow().iter() {
+                    if filter >= level
+                        && target
+                            .as_ref()
+                            .map(|target| metadata.target().starts_with(target))
+                            .unwrap_or(true)
+                    {
                         return true;
                     }
                 }
@@ -463,7 +468,7 @@ impl<S: Subscriber> Layer<S> for EnvFilter {
         // that to allow changing the filter while a span is already entered.
         // But that might be much less efficient...
         if let Some(span) = try_lock!(self.by_id.read()).get(id) {
-            SCOPE.with(|scope| scope.borrow_mut().push(span.level()));
+            SCOPE.with(|scope| scope.borrow_mut().push((span.level(), span.target())));
         }
     }