Abstract: Here we reported on an effective method for total RNA isolation from a fern plant,Pteris vittata L. This method inhibits the oxidation of polyphenols by optimizing the conditions of the extraction buffer. Most of the polysaccharides and polyphenols extracted with nucleic acids are removed by taking advantage of differences in solubility of these compounds in the solvent 2-butoxyethanol. The whole process can be completed with a convenient manipulation in less than 2 hours. Isolated RNA has high purity and yield, and can be used for molecular manipulation such as the cDNA synthesis, cDNA library construction and RACE.