A simple and rapid procedure involving immunoadsorbent column chromatography has been developed for the isolation of lysosomal arylsulfatase B from human placenta. Using this method, we purified the enzyme over 20,000-fold with better recovery (16%) compared to that achieved by the conventional procedure. The enzyme appeared to be homogeneous and had an apparent molecular weight of 58,000 on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under nonreducing conditions. The purified enzyme migrated as two bands with apparent molecular weights of 43,000 and 8,000 by reductive SDS-PAGE.