Glucose, peptone and magnesium sulphate were found to be suitable components for the cell growth and glutathione (GSH) production in the yeast strain. Saccharomyces cerevisiae CCRC 21727. The Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology were employed to derive a statistical model to investigate the effects of glucose, peptone and magnesium sulphate concentrations on GSH production. Neural networks were compared with a second-order-polynomial model in predicting the effects of component concentrations on the production of GSH and dry cell weight (DCW). Neural network models can predict cell growth and GSH production more precisely than second-order-response-surface models.