The three-phase behavior of-quaternary systems comprising N-lauroyl-N-methylglucamide (MEGA-12)/alcohol/alkane/water has been studied using epsilon-beta fishlike phase diagrams. From the epsilon-beta fishlike phase diagrams a series of phase inversions Winsor I ((2) under bar) --> III (3) --> II ((2) over bar) were observed, and the hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced (HLB) plane equation for the quaternary system was deduced. Some physicochemical parameters, such as the mass fraction of alcohol in the HLB interfacial layer, A(S), the coordinates of the start (beta(B), epsilon(B)) and end points (beta(E), epsilon(E)) of the middle-phase microemulsion, the mass fractions of MEGA-12 and alcohol in the total system (C-S and C-A), and the solubilities of MEGA-12 and alcohol in oil phase (S-O and A(O)), were calculated. The effects of different alcohols, alkanes, and NaCl concentrations in the aqueous phase on the phase behavior and solubilization capacity were investigated, which indicates that alcohol with longer and alkane with shorter hydrocarbon chains have a larger solubilization capacity. NaCl concentration has little influence on the phase behavior. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.