The increase of population and industrial activities had brought into eutrophication in the Nakdong river. A remarkable acceleration of eutrophication brought about serious problems for water supply. Therefore, for the purpose of conservation of water quality in the Nakdong river it is necessary to control nutrients. MBOD method was use to evaluate algal growth limiting factor and algal growth potential in the Nakdong river from June to August 1994. The modified biochemical oxygen demand(MBOD) depends on the amount of available inorganic nutrient and organic substrate during 5 day incubation in the dark at 2$0^{circ}C$. The MBOD assay depends on inorganic nutrients such as P and N as well as reduced carbon and called the MBOD, the MBOD-P, and the MBOD-N, respectively. The results of bioassay by MBOD(Modified BOD) method showed that the MBOD, MBOD-P and MBOD-N value were found to be in the ranges of 3.8~96.0 mg$O_2$/l, 5.6~94.0 mg$O_2$/l and 42.0~220 mg$O_2$/l, respectively. And the the bioassay value was found to be the highest in Koryong area and the lowest in Waekwan area throughout the Nakdong river. The variations of MBOD-P and MBOD-N value showed similar tendencies to the variations of phosphorus and nitrogen value, respectively. By MBOD method, the relationships of MBOD, MBOD-P and MBOD-N value were MBOD ≒ MBOD-P 《 MBOD-N. The MBOD value was nearly equal to the MBOD-P value, and the MBOD-N value was 3 to 20 times more than the MBOD-P value, approximately. Therefore, in the Nakdong river, phosphorus was the limiting factor for algal growth during summer season. The algal growth potential as the concentration of chlorophyll-a in the summer was maximum 5 times more than standing crop as it.