beta-Elemene, germacrene A and damascenine were extracted from lady-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena L.) seeds with supercritical carbon dioxide at 10-30 MPa and 40-60 degrees C. The influence of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) conditions on the yield and concentration of volatiles in the extract and the extraction kinetics were studied. The extraction yields and the apparent solubility of volatile compounds increased with increasing density of CO2. The highest total yield was obtained at 30 MPa and 40 degrees C but the selectivity for volatiles was low under these conditions. With respect to both yield of volatiles and their concentration in extract, the best results were at 12 MPa and 40 degrees C, either with one separator or with additional separator maintained at 5 MPa and 25 degrees C. The yields of beta-elemene, germacrene A and damascenine reached 0.72, 3.31 and 3.65 mg g(-1) and their concentration in the extract was 2.62, 12.04 and 13.28 wt.%, respectively. Though the yields of germacrene A and damascenine were by about 20% higher using Soxhlet extraction with hexane than using SFE, their concentration in the extract where fatty oil prevailed was only 1.19 and 1.20 wt.%, respectively. Under the conditions of hydrodistillation, partial conversion of germacrene A to beta-elemene occurred and its yield was higher than using the other methods but the composition of volatiles in the SFE extracts better corresponds to the original raw material. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.