PURPOSE: To inexpensively obtain a large amount of the title saccharide useful as an industrial raw material besides a reagent as a rare glucide by bringing a bacterium belonging to the genus Alcaligenes, capable of producing xylulose from xylitol, into contact with an xylitol-containing aqueous solution.

CONSTITUTION: A bacterium [e.g. Alcaligenes denitrificans subsp. xylosoxydans 701A (FERM-BP-2,735)] belonging to the genus Alcaligenes, capable of producing xylulose from xylitol is brought into contact with a xylitol-containing aqueous solution, shaken at 30°C for 2 days, xylitol is converted to L-xylulose, the reaction mixture solution is centrifuged, the cells are removed to give a supernatant liquid, which is mixed with zinc sulfate and adjusted to pH7.6. The centrifuged supernatant liquid is successively treated with active carbon, H type and OH type ion exchange resin, and concentrated under reduced pressure to produce a large amount of the objective L-xylulose inexpensively.