A simple, mild, and effective process for the recovery of intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoate from a newly isolated gram-negative wild-type bacteria Comamonas sp. EB172 was developed using sodium hydroxide. Various parameters such as sodium hydroxide concentration, digestion time, and temperature were examined for their effect on polyhydroxyalkanoate recovery. The results showed that polyhydroxyalkanoate with 88.6% purity and 96.8% recovery yield were obtained by incubating the dried cells with 0.05M sodium hydroxide at 4 degrees C for 1 h, followed by purification steps using ethanol and water. Removal of non-polymeric cellular materials from the Comamonas sp. EB172 was increased under alkaline solution as a result of enhanced cell wall permeability. In addition, the presence of glycerol in the polymer suspension proved that saponification of the lipid layer in the bacterial cell wall occurred due to sodium hydroxide reaction.