Abstract The marine yeast strain G7a isolated from sediment of China South Sea was found to secrete a large amount of inulinase into the medium. This marine yeast strain was identified to be a strain of Cryptococcus aureus according to the results of routine yeast identification and molecular methods. The crude inulinase produced by this marine yeast showed the highest activity at pH 5.0 and 50 °C. The optimal medium for inulinase production was artificial seawater containing inulin 4.0% (w/v), K 2 HPO 4 0.3% (w/v), yeast extract 0.5% (w/v), KCl 0.5% (w/v), CaCl 2 0.12% (w/v), NaCl 4.0% (w/v) and MgCl 2 ·6H 2 O 0.6% (w/v), while the optimal cultivation conditions for inulinase production were pH 5.0, a temperature of 28 °C and a shaking speed of 170 rpm. Under the optimal conditions, over 85.0 U/ml of inulinase activity was produced within 42 h of fermentation at shake flask level. This is very high level of inulinase activity produced by yeasts. A large amount of monosaccharides and oligosaccharides were detected after inulin hydrolysis by the crude inulinase.