Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) is a nuclear enzyme involved in a range of activities associated with DNA metabolism and plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of DNA and chromatin structure. As such, this enzyme is likely to provide a useful target when using a rational drug design approach to develop pharmaceutical reagents, including cancer therapeutics. However, there is still a great deal to learn about the mode of action of PARP-1 and therefore efforts are being directed at gaining a better understanding of the relationship between its structure and function. To this end we have developed a rapid and relatively simple approach to producing and purifying PARP-1. Unlike traditional PARP-1 purification protocols, the method described here requires only one chromatography step thus minimizing losses of the enzyme and also avoids the use of a competitive inhibitor-based affinity chromatography step, which is common to several other protocols in the literature. The product of the method described here is high-quality native PARP-1 with a high specific activity and K-m and V-max values similar to what is reported by other workers in the field. This protocol is particularly well suited to making PARP-1 in a quantity and of a quality suitable for structure-function studies.