A microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method was used to recover the anticancer agent paclitaxel from plant cell cultures, and the extraction efficiency of the paclitaxel was determined using various organic solvents (acetone, chloroform, ethanol, methanol, and methylene chloride) and solvent concentrations. Methanol provided the highest recovery of paclitaxel (~93%) and resulted in the most severe rupturing of the biomass surface during MAE. Most of the paclitaxel (>99%) was recovered using a methanol concentration of 90% (water content: 10%), suggesting that the addition of a small amount of water improves the efficiency of MAE. Furthermore, analysis of the surface of the biomass using an electron microscope revealed that the higher the recovery of paclitaxel, the more severe the damage to the biomass surface. A comparison of the extraction efficiency between MAE and conventional solvent extraction (CSE) showed that with CSE, only up to 54% of the paclitaxel could be recovered in one extraction whereas with MAE, most of the paclitaxel (>99%) in the biomass could be recovered in one extraction.