Abstract: A submerged fermentation process of higher fungus Ganoderma lucidum was developed for simultaneous, highly efficient production of polysaccharide and ganoderic acid. The effects of nitrogen source, inoculum density, initial glucose concentration and loading volume on the fungus fermentation were investigated in shake flasks. It was found that combined addition of yeast extract and peptone was favorable for cell growth and metabolite production. Inoculum density greatly affected the metabolite formation. A high cell density of 16.7g/L by dry weight was obtained at an initial glucose level of 50g/L. The production of IPS(intracellular polysaccharide), EPS (extracellular polysaccharide) and GA (ganoderic acid) was 1.19g/L, 0.854g/L and 212.3mg/L, respectively. A low loading volume improved not only the cell growth but also the metabolite productivity. The production and productivity of ganoderic acid obtained in this work were the highest as ever reported.