Serratia sp. Y-4 was isolated from soil. Many characteristics of the strain and optimum cultivation condition for protease production were investigated.,The protease from Serratia sp. Y-4 was purified and studied for the properties of the enzyme. The isolated strain was identified to the genus Serratia. The strain was cultivated in 1%-casein, 0.5%-Na$_{3}$PO$_{4}$.7H$_{2}$O, 0.1%-NaCl, 0.05%-KCI, 0.02%-MgSO$_{4}$.7H$_{2}$O, 0.02%-CaCl$_{2}$.2H$_{2}$O, 0.02%-ZnSO$_{4}$.7H$_{2}$O, 0.02%-MnCl$_{2}$.4H$_{2}$O and 0.5%-soy bean oil at pH 7.0 for 35 hrs. The enzyme was purified about 5.89 fold from the culture broth with 31.1% recovery and 19,613 u/mg through ultrafiltration, ammonium sulfate, DEAE-sephacel and Superose-12 chromatography. The purified enzyme was identified as one band by isoelectric focusing, SDS- and native-PAGE. It has maxium activity at $37^{circ}C$ and pH 9.0. Molecular weight of it is approx. 50 kD and pl is about 6.70. Its Km value for casein was 20 mg/ml. 5 mM-EDTA, 5mM-SDS, Ag$^{+1}$, Cu$^{+2}$, Hg$^{+2}$ and Pb$^{+2}$ inhibited the enzyme.