The extraction of oil from Juniperus communis needles was investigated using supercritical CO2. The extraction was carried out varying the pressure in the range of 10-30 MPa, the temperature within 308-328 K, with a solvent flow rate fixed at 0.42 kg h(-1), and a mean particle diameter equal to 0.5 mm or less than 0.315 mm. The operating parameters have been optimized using the response surface methodology where a second order polynomial expression was used to express the oil recovery, and the results were satisfactory. The maximum oil recovery relative to the initial mass was 6.55 wt%. It was obtained for an extraction under 328 K, 30 MPa and a particle diameter less than 0.315 mm. Selected samples of extracts were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and the results show that the most concentrated compounds were germacrene D and 1-octadecene. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.