A yeast, Rhodotorula glutinis, is regarded as a potential microbial oil producer, due to its high lipid content. The flask results of this study indicated that irradiation could increase the growth of R. glutinis compared to that of a batch without irradiation. Further 5-1 fermenter results confirmed that irradiation could greatly enhance the cells' growth rate and total lipid productivity. The maximum lipid productivity obtained in the fed-batch operation with 3 LED (light emitting diode) lamps was 0.39 g/l h as compared to 0.34 g/l h in the batch with 3 LED lamps and 0.19 g/l h in the batch without irradiation. Conclusively, the irradiation could significantly increase the cells' growth rate, which, in turn, could be applied to the commercialized production of biodiesel from single cell oils. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.