the effect of combination of acetic acid, furfural and catechol on the growth and lipid accumulation of oleaginous yeast trichosporon fermentans was systematically studied by response surface methodology (rsm). a 5-level 3-factor central composite design (ccd) was used to build the statistical model. the results measured by rsm showed that each inhibitor exhibited significant negative effect on the biomass, lipid content, lipid yield, and sugar consumption of t. fermentans. however, for the binary and ternary combinations of these compounds, only the binary combination of acetic acid and catechol showed significant effect, indicating there are no synergistic effects for these inhibitors in most cases. this work offers a simple way to evaluate the complex effect of various inhibitors on the growth and lipid accumulation of oleaginous microorganisms.