We report a systematic study on the crystal growth of CuFe1-xGaxO2 (x=0, 0.035, 0.08, and 0.12) by using an optical floating-zone method. High-quality single crystals are successfully obtained and the growth conditions are carefully optimized. It is found that there is a wide region to set the heat power for crystallizing, but the best crystallization requires carefully adjusting the heat power. X-ray diffraction data demonstrate the good crystallinity of these crystals. The basic physical properties of these crystals are characterized by the magnetic susceptibility and thermal conductivity measurements. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.