To investigate the possibility of development as a whitening agent using arctigenin, we measured DPPH assay, NBT/XO assay, intracellular ROS scavenging assay, tyrosinase assay and MSH-induced melanin production in B16 melanoma cells. Arctigenin dose-dependently had anti-oxidant activity in DPPH, NBT/XO and intracellular ROS assay. Although arctigenin did not inhibit purified tyrosinase activity, it dose-dependently inhibited tyrosinase activity and melanin production in B16 melanoma cells stimulated by $1{mu}M$ ${alpha}$-MSH. In particular, arctigenin at a concentration $100{mu}M$ inhibited ${alpha}$-MSH-stimulated tyrosinase activity and melanin production by $50.9{pm}2.9%$ and $69.0{pm}6.5%$ respectively. And typical tyrosinase inhibitor, arbutin, inhibited $57.7{pm}2.9%$ and $65.1{pm}5.0%$ respectively. Such an similar inhibitory effect of arctigenin and arbutin in B16 melanoma cells may be due to the inhibition of MSH signal pathway rather than the direct inhibition of tyrosinase. Therefore, these results suggest that arctigenin may be useful for the development as whitening agents.