In this present study, we investigated the utilization of whey powder as an alternate carbon source and statistical optimization of medium components on lovastatin production by Aspergillus terreus MTCC 1281. Central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM) was successfully employed to optimize the four medium variables whey powder, yeast extract, sodium chloride, and copper sulphate at five levels. Regression analysis explained that the linear and square effects of the variables were found significant with $R^2$ value of 0.937. Maximum lovastatin production of 358.2 mg/L was obtained with the predicted optimal concentration of whey powder 1.5%, yeast extract 0.75%, sodium chloride 0.04%, and copper sulphate 0.019%.The results of this study indicated that statistical optimization approach leads to high lovastatin production by using whey powder as a carbon source.