The world is confronted with the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. The indiscriminate extraction and consumption of fossil fuels have led to a reduction in petroleum reserves. Alternative fuels, energy conservation and management, energy efficiency and environmental protection have become important in recent years. The increasing import bill has necessitated the search for liquid fuels as an alternative to diesel, which is being used in large quantities in transportation, agricultural, industrial, commercial and even domestic sectors. Biodiesel obtained from vegetable oils has been considered as a promising option. The most common catalysts for biodiesel production are homogeneous basic catalysts. In the present paper, a comparison is made of different basic catalysts (sodium methoxide, potassium methoxide, sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide) for methanolysis of vegetable oil. All the reactions were carried out under the same experimental conditions in a batch stirred reactor and the subsequent separation in a separating funnel.