Generally we have difficulty in removing oil using mechanical devices because recovery rate and recovery efficiency decrease remarkably when operating in thin oil films or in oils of very high viscosity In the Present study a series of experiments were carried out to study the effect of operating conditions on the rate of recovery for the spilled oil using a drum type skimmer. For each set of experiments depth of immersion, oil film thickness and the circumferential speeds were varied systematically to find the effects on the recovery rate. The results shows that recovery rate is dependent on the contact angle for the depth of immersion and the highest rate of oil recovery shows in the case of a contact angle of 45°(h/d=0.15). For the removal of spilled oil the optimal circumferential speed can be found as the critical value to reach the saturated recovery rate for a given oil film thickness and depth of immersion. Even in thin oil thickness we have enough recovery rate and recovery efficiency within critical circumferential speed this way.