The production of red pigment was greatly improved by Monascus incubated with Saccharomyces cerevisiae lysate.Yeast lysate was added at different time points to the different flasks which contained media inoculated with Monascus and the difference of the red pigment yield was investigated.The effect of the amount of the yeast lysate added on the red pigment yield was also analyzed.The results shows that 48 hours after inoculating with Monascus is the most suitable time point to add yeast lysate and 1.5 mL is the most suitable amount of yeast lysae for 150 mL culture mix to increase the pigment yield.Under the most suitable condition mentioned above,the rates of increase in yield of Monacus mycelium,hydrophobic pigment and hydrophilic pigment were 47%,120% and 190%,respectively,as compared with control.