The present communication shows that ribosomes isolated by differential centrifugation retain their composition and biological activity during subsequent methyl-albumin-kieselgel (MAK)-chromatography. The data obtained were used to develop a novel chromatographic procedure for the isolation of ribosomes from E. coli lysates. It could be demonstrated that purified preparations of active ribosomes can be obtained by MAK-chromatography avoiding ultracentrifugation.