In the present study, the growth of microalgal strain Nannochloropsis oculata was studied in different concentration of NaNO 3 and NaCl as nutrient factors in culture medium to investigate its effect on the cell biomass and fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) composition. The microalgae were exposed to nitrogen and salt stress in two different experiment set-ups. The nitrogen source, NaNO 3 was supplied at different concentration which are 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg/L while NaCl concentration was fixed at 25 g/L whereas NaCl concentration were tested at 0, 10, 25 and 35 g/L while NaNO3 was fixed at 75 mg/L. The results observed indicated that the growth of microalgae sample cultivated in NaNO3 concentration of 100 mg/L and NaCl concentration of 25 g/L is higher compared to that cultivated in other concentration of NaNO3 and NaCl, respectively after being analysed by the cell optical density. The specific growth rate shows similar results as treatment of 100 mg/L NaNO3 and 25 g/L NaCl have highest growth rate. The FAMEs content of different cultivation condition produces different composition of saturated fatty acids (SFAs), mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.