The present study was carried out during two successive summer seasons of 2006 / 2007 and 2007 / 2008 at the Experimental Farm of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Fac. Agric., MansouraUniv. The research aimed to study the effect of cuts and different drying methods (room, air and oven at 50 ºC) on volatile oil quality and quantity of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plant. Sweet basil is a common herb, used for culinary and medicinal purposes. It is widely cultivated for the production of volatile oil, and is also important for the handling and distribution of raw materials with high moisture content and a limited shelf-life. The results showed that the oven drying method was the best treatment to produce the highest volatile oil percentage, while the room drying method gave the highest percentage of volatile oil components. Also, the second and third cuts gave the highest volatile oil percentage and yield compared with to the first cut. The G.L.C. of the volatile oil of the fresh leaves revealed a total of 7 compounds. The total identified compounds constituted 92.62, 91.56 and 87.53 % in the oil of the room, air and oven at 50 ºC drying methods respectively, compared to the fresh plants (91.0 %). The percentage of the main component (Linalool) was 87.77, 81.61 and 79.86% in the oil of the room, air and oven at 50 ºC drying method, respectively compared with the fresh plants (84.55 %) at the second cut in the second season.