The Dirichlet problem for biharmonic equation in a rectangular region is considered. The method of splitting is used and two classes of finite difference approximations are defined. Two semi-iterative procedures are considered for obtaining the solution of the resulting coupled system of algebraic equations. It is shown that the rate of convergence of the iterative procedures depends upon the choice of the difference approximation. Estimates for optimum iteration parameters are given and several comparisons are made. An attempt is made to unify the ideas on the splitting technique for solving the first biharmonic boundary value problem.