Anthocyanins are naturally occurring polyphenols that impart bright color to fruits, vegetables and plants. In this study, the extraction of anthocyanins from freeze-dried fruit skin of downy rose-myrtle (Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Ait.) Hassk var. Gangren) was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Using 60% ethanol containing 0.1% (v/v) hydrochloric acid as extraction solvent, the optimal conditions for maximum yields of anthocyanin (4.358 +/- 0.045 mg/g) were 15.7: 1 (v/w) liquid to solid ratio, 64.38 degrees C with a 116.88 min extraction time. The results showed good fits with the proposed model for the anthocyanin extraction (R-2 = 0.9944). Furthermore, the results of high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) analysis of the anthocyanins extracted from the fruit skin of downy rose-myrtle revealed the presence of five anthocyanin components, which were tentatively identified as delphinidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside, peonidin-3-glucoside, petunidin-3-glucoside and malvidin-3-glucoside.