The work was to investigate the influence of microwave power, metal oxides and metal salts onto the pyrolysis of algae (4.55 wt.% moisture). It was found that the heating rate and the final temperature would increase as enhancing the microwave power. When microwave power increased from 750 W to 2250 W, the yield of solid residue decreased by 22.05%, and gas yield increased 39.45%. After adding 5% (mass basis) CuO and MgO, the yield of solid residue and bio-oil appeared the greatest decreasing ranges of 14.35% and 11.04%, respectively. Electrical energy consumption increased by 1.44% and reduced by 40.76% after CuO and MgO was added, separately. When algae was mixed with 5% (mass basis) MgCl2, ZnCl2 and NaH2PO3, respectively, the yield of solid residue increased by 3.98%, 1.13% and 2.31%, and the bio-oil yield increased by 6.3%, 16.92% and 0.71%, respectively. The effect of microwave absorption was ZnCl2 > NaH2PO3 > MgCl2. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.