The objective of this study is to analyze the influences of fatty alcohols and fatty acids on rheological properties of oil in water (O/W) emulsions using viscosity and rheograms. As the chain length of fatty alcohols and fatty acids lengthened, the viscosity of emulsions was increased. The influence of fatty alcohols on viscosity enhancement was stronger than that of fatty acids. Both stearyl alcohol and cetearyl alcohol, which have carbon chain length similar to lipophilic portion of surfactant used in emulsion preparation, had showed the best increase in viscosity of O/W emulsions. O/W emulsions prepared with fatty alcohols and fatty acids were pseudo-plastic fluid and they showed shear thinning behaviour like as the common cosmetic emulsions. O/W emulsions prepared with cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol were thixotropic fluids and thixotropy increased with an increase in the concentration of fatty alcohols and fatty acids. Also O/W emulsions prepared with fatty alcohols were more thixotropic than those prepared with fatty acids. For the sake of viscosity increase related to O/W emulsions stability and spreadability enhancement related to payoff, it is thought that fatty alcohols are more useful than fatty acids in the O/W emulsions as the emulsion stabilizer.