It has been known that the synthesis of the cathode materials for the lithium rechargeable batteries by the sol-gel process has many advantages over the conventional solid-state method. It has been, however, a continuing issue that new additional steps should be introduced to commercialize this process. In this work, spray drying was introduced to the existing sol-gel process as a continuous mass production method of the pre-heat treatment precursor materials. The precursors of $LiCoO_2$ and $LiNi_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2$ were continuously produced through spray drying from the solution containing stoichiometric amount of lithium, cobalt, and nickel sources as well as a chelating agent. The process variables, such as pH of the starting solution, spray drying conditions, and calcination conditions were optimized. The XRD pattern for the synthesized material indicated a good crystallinity with a layered structure.