Media components, including date juice, sodium acetate, peptone, and $K_{2}HPO_4$, which were screened by Plackett-Burman fractional factorial design, were optimized for lactic acid production from date juice using the response surface method (RSM). Sodium acetate, peptone (p<0.0001), and $K_{2}HPO_4$ (p=0.0029) were highly significant in influencing the lactic acid production. Close correlationship between predicted and experimental values was observed. When the optimum values of the parameters obtained through RSM (25.0 g/l date sugar, 15.0 g/l sodium acetate, 19.1 g/l peptone, and 4.7 g/l $K_{2}HPO_4$) were applied, lactic acid production (22.7 g/l) increased by 50.33%, compared with unoptimized media (15.1 g/l). The subsequent validation experiments confirmed the validity of the statistical model.