Fast transesterification of canola oil and methanol for biodiesel production was achieved using radio frequency (RF) heating. The conversion rate of oil to biodiesel reached 97.3% with RF heating for 3 min, a NaOH concentration (based on oil) of 1.0%, and a methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1. A central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were employed to evaluate the impact of RF heating time, NaOH concentration, and molar ratio of methanol to oil on conversion efficiency. Experimental results showed that the three factors all significantly affected the conversion rate. NaOH concentration had the largest influence, with the effect being more pronounced at lower (0.2-0.6%, based on weight of oil) concentration. No evident interaction among the three factors was observed. RF heating efficiency was primarily related to the amount of NaOH and methanol. The scale of the experiment was increased by five times (from 20 to 100 g oil per batch) without decrease of the conversion rate, indicating the scale-up potential of RF heating for biodiesel production.