The cholesterol oxidase was purified from the culture broth of Rhodococcus sp. 3T6-5Mj strain by procedures involving filtration, acetone precipitation, DEAE-Sephadex A-50, and cholesterol affinity column chromatography with a recovery of 15% to specific activity of 25.6 units/mg. The molecular weight of the enzyme was estimated to be 52,000 daltons by SDS-PAGE. Optimum pH and temperature for the enzyme activity were approximately pH 7.0 and $50^{circ}C$ respectively. The Michaelis constant (Km) for cholesterol was found to be $3.2{ imes}10^{-4}$ M. The enzyme showed a high substrate specificity for $3{eta}$-hydroxysterols and the relative oxidation rates were 100% for cholesterol, 89% for campesterol, 55% for stigmasterol, etc. Amino acid analysis showed that the enzyme protein was composed of 440 amino acid residues without cystein and tryptophan.