Phaffia rhodozyma is the most promising microbial source of astaxanthin production, though wild-type strains are needed to increase the astaxanthin content for commercial production. To increase astaxanthin content for commercial production, a mutant strain of P. rhodozyma was selected and culture conditions of the mutant selected were optimized. P. rhodozyma was treated with mutagenic agent such as NTG, acriflavine, and UV in serial order and carotenoids hyper-producing mutant strain was selected based on the capabilities of cell growth on the agar plate containing chemical inhibitors and carotenoids production. Among the mutants tested, a mutant WS-2 was finally selected. Mutant WS-2 produced 1.26mg carotenoids/g-dry cell weight and this value was about- 4-folds higher than that of wild-type. The optimum culture conditions were $24^{circ}C$ of temperature, 1.5vvm of aeration and 300rpm of agitation. In the optimized condition, cell and carotenoids concentrations were 7.62g/l and 14.9mg/l, respectively.