An investigation has been made of the cracking of liquid hydrocarbons under microwave radiation in the presence of a sensitizer. A mixture of light (saturated and unsaturated) hydrocarbons is produced. It has been shown that, during the microwave cracking of n-hexane at atmospheric pressure, the ethylene content of the products is over 44 mol.%. In the presence of additions of hydroxyl-containing compounds, processes leading to coke formation are greatly suppressed with virtually no change in the yield of target products.