The degree of light limitation of growth is the primary controlling factor of chlorophyll synthesis during photoautotrophic growth of Chlorella. The chlorophyll content of the cells increases when light is limiting for growth as occurs in dense cultures, or in cultures under low incident light, or when the light is used less efficiently through partial inhibition of photosynthesis by 3-(p-chlorophenyl)-1, 1-dimethylurea. The chlorophyll content decreases when light is not limiting for growth, as occurs in cells in high light intensity and in dilute suspensions. The initial lag in rate of chlorophyll synthesis in a freshly inoculated culture can be attributed to light at first not being growth limiting, and then becoming growth limiting as the cell suspension becomes denser. Continuous culture experiments support the above conclusions by showing that under steady state conditions the chlorophyll content is inversely related to the relative available light.