The current study was intended to improve operational conditions for spray drying of Murraya koenigii (Linn) leaves extract by using response surface methodology (RSM). The inlet air temperature (140-180 degrees C), maltodextrin concentration (10-30 %), and gum acacia concentration (2-10 %) were kept as an independent variables while optimizing responses were powder yield, moisture content, solubility, and total phenolic content. The quadratic equation and statistical analysis showed a substantial effect on all the responses and the optimized conditions for spray drying of Murraya koenigii extract validated the quadratic model. The most desirable optimum conditions for spray drying of Murraya koenigii leaves were, inlet temperature (165 degrees C), maltodextrin (30 %), and gum acacia (10 %) for obtaining desired characteristics of spray dried powder such as solubility (26.15 %), total phenolic content (253.42 mg/g), and moisture content (3.03 %) respectively at a desirability level of 0.918 with powder yield (27.61 %). (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.