The microencapsulation of drugs is gaining importance in many research activities. A common technique for preparing microcapsules is the solvent evaporation method which is simple but has a large number of reaction control parameters. This study reports the microcapsulation of allopurinol by the solvent evaporation method and the release of the drug from the microcapsules. The effect of concentration of poly(vinyl alcohol) (as a surfactant), molecular weight of ethyl cellulose and stirrer speed in the preparative method were studied. The effect of molecular weight of ethyl cellulose and particle size on drug release were also investigated. It has been found that the drug release is decreased with increasing molecalar weight of polymer and increasing particle size.