Eigenface method in face recognition is useful due to its insensitivity to large variations in facial expression and facial details. However its low recognition rate necessitates additional researches. In this paper, we present an efficient method for improving the recognition rate in face recognition using eigenface feature. For this, we performs a comparative study of three different classifiers which are i) a single prototype (SP) classifier, ii) a nearest neighbor (NN) classifier, and iii) a standard feedforward neural network (FNN) classifier. By evaluating and analyzing the performance of these three classifiers, we shows that the distribution of eigenface features of face image is not compact and that selections of classifier and sample training data are important for obtaining higher recognition rate. Our experiments with the ORL face database show that 1-NN classifier outperforms the SP and FNN classifiers. We have achieved a recognition rate of 91.0% by selecting sample trainging data properly and using 1-NN classifier.