We established an efficient and reproducible procedure for protoplast propagation and fertile plant regeneration of rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars Nipponbare and Taipei 309. Selection of scutellum-derived secondary calli, the use of General medium and nurse culture were all found to be critical in the procedure. When 5 basal media (Murashige and Skoog, RY-2, modified R2, Amino Acid and General media) were compared, suspension callus growth rate, protoplast yield and plating efficiency were all about 30% higher in General medium than in the second-best R2 medium. Only one month was required to develop suspension cultures for protoplast isolation using General medium. A plating efficiency as high as 17% and a plant regeneration frequency of 67% were achieved by the improved procedure. Agronomic traits of protoplast- and seed-derived plants were found to be similar.