This study was carried out to investigate the effects of the counter-pressure setting and the roller speed of a rice whitening machine on the head rice recovery. milling capacity and milling efficiency, and also to find out the optimum operational conditions of the machine. The radial pressure inside the whitening chamber and the outlet axial pressure were measured to study their relationships with the head rice recovery, milling capacity and milling efficiency. The results of the study are summarized as follows. (1) The most important factor in rice whitening was the counter-pressure setting. It significantly affected the head rice recovery. (2) The roller speed significant affected the milling capacity and milling efficiency , but it did not affected the head rice recovery. (3) Both the radial pressure and the outlet axial pressure were affected by the counter-pressure setting but not by the roller speed. Both of them increased almost linearly with the counter-pressure setting. There was a significant correlation between the radial pressure and the outlet axial pressure. (4) The flow rate through the whitening chamber when the feed gate was fully opened increased with the roller speed, but it was not affected by the counter-pressure setting. (5) The head rice recovery decreased as the counter-pressure setting increased , but it was not affected by the roller speed. The reason could be explained by the fact that the radical pressure increased only with the counter-pressure setting. (6) The milling capacity increased with the counter-pressure setting and linearly with the roller speed. The milling efficiency generally increased with both the counter-pressure setting and the roller speed. However, the effect of roller speed was negligible at the higher counter-pressure setting. The temperature rise inside the whitening chamber was moderate with the mean of 11.3℃ (range 5.6-18.3℃) even though it increased slightly with the roller speed. Considering the head rice recovery and milling efficiency, the optimum operational conditions of the machine appeared to be the counter-pressure setting of 67g/㎠ and the roller speed of 1,050rpm. Neglecting the small difference in the head rice recovery , the greater milling capacity could be obtained at the counter-pressure setting of 85g/㎠ with the roller speed of 850-1050rpm.