The toxicity of chlorothalonil on the growth of yeasts was investigated using several yeast strains. An alcohol tolerant yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae F38-1, was the most chlorothalonil-tolerant. The glutathione content and the glutathione S-transferase activity were related to the chlorothalonil-tolerant phenotype. Several thiol compounds affect the dissipation of chlorothalonil. However, there was no significant difference on the effects of chlorothalonil dissipation among the thiol compounds tested. The growth of yeast cells was arrested by chlorothalonil. It took about 13 h to dissipate 1 mg/l of chlorothalonil, and the growth was restored as the chlorothalonil content decreased. The glutathione content and glutathione S-transferase are suggested to be among the most important factors of yeast resistance to chlorothalonil.