This study emphasis on the hydration effects (by immersion technique) towards the morphology of agarwood chips. Agarwood
chips were obtained from the Aquilaria Malaccensis trunk. The effects of hydration also reflected by the oil yield extracted from
soaked agarwood chips. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis conducted to evaluate the microstructure of the agarwood
chips. The hydration effect was evaluated by varying the soaking time and it is analyzed by its moisture content. The resulting oil
yield was obtained from conventional water distillation process. The distillation time was standardized for 96 hours for all
samples. Agarwood oil collected and quantify at the end of the distillation process. The total oil yield at different soaking time
produces a bell-shaped graph ranging from 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The maximum oil yield can be obtained by agarwood chips
soaked for 14 days. The result can be explained by the morphology of agarwood chips cell. The cell has expanded and finally
damage, thus releasing the content to the soaking water. Water enters cell wall through diffusion and increase the turgor pressure.
Soaking water become more acidic through time and corrodes the cell wall. This enhances the wall damaging process. However,
longer soaking time causes more oil content wasted to the soaking water. It is concluded that the most suitable soaking time for
agarwood oil extraction is 14 days. On the other hand, soaking process able to changes the morphology of the agarwood chips in
order to enhance the oil yield.