The influence of inlet and exit air temperatures (160-200 and 80-100 C, respectively) on the spray drying of mandarin oil was evaluated by using a three-level factor design. For optimization, dryer evaporative rate, volatile oil retention, and microencapsulation efficiency were considered as response variables. The response surface analysis produced significant (p < 0.05) polynomial regression equations that were successfully fitted for all response variables and no significant (p > 0.05) lack of fit was indicated for the reduced models. This observation confirmed an accurate fitness of the reduced response surface models to the experimental data. The multiple response optimizations indicated that an inlet air temperature of 200 C and an exit air temperature of 80 C were predicted to provide the maximum evaporative rate, volatile oil retention, and microencapsulation efficiency in the studied ranges.