Y. lipolytica is a strictly aerobic yeast known as one of n-alkane assimilating yeasts, oxidizing very efficiently hydrophobic substrates, like fats, oils and fatty acids. Generally, lipids assimilation by microbial cells requires a contact between the oil phase and the cells. This contact can occur through a direct adsorption of hydrophobic droplets to the cell surface, or it can be mediated by a surfactant. Therefore these cells, generally, present a differentiated cell wall that permits the adhesion of these hydrophobic substrates. The investigation of the cell adhesion phenomenon leading to the identification of the responsible biomolecules is essential for the development of various technological fields such as food processing, bioremediation, wastewater treatment, biotechnological process in biphasic medium, etc. The MATS (microbial adhesion to solvents) test is a method to detect cell hydrophobicity based in the partition of cells to a hydrophobic solvent and water. By this test it was detected a high hydrophobicity for the surface of a Y. lipolytica strain (Y. lipolytica IMUFRJ 5062), with 90% of cells adhered to hexadecane and only 10% adhered to water, in comparison to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a non-oil degrading yeast, which only 1% of cells adhered to hexadecane. Previous results suggested the possible involvement of carbohydrate molecules in this adhesion phenomenon. A biosurfactant detected in Y. lipolytica's growth media was characterized as a polysaccharide-protein complex, with 84% carbohydrate content and 15% protein content (Amaral et al., 2006). In order to investigate the molecular carbohydrate nature of the cell wall surface, an enzymatic digestion without previous cellular treatment to alter the cell wall integrity was performed using a mix of hydrolytic sugar degrading enzymes on integral cells. The results showed that there is a high glucose content in Y. lipolytica's cell wall surface when compared to a non-oil degrading yeast, which presented, approximately, ten times less glucose. This glucose content is derived from the action of the alpha1-4; alpha,1-6; alpha1-1; beta,1-4; beta,1-3 e beta,1-6 cleavage enzymes. In the same conditions, but using a previous alkali treatment to increase the cell wall porosity, it was possible to degrade the sugar content of S. cerevisiae cells (0.34 mg of glucose/mg of cells). After each specific enzymatic digestion, the cell wall hydrophobicity was measured to determine the bond nature between the glucosidic units of the responsible molecule for Y. lipolytica's cell adhesion.