In this study, the hydrodistillation process of lemon peel essential oil was modeled and the obtained essential oil was determined for chemical composition. The modeling was done through non-stationary diffusion model and first-order kinetic model (i.e., fixed diffusion model). The results revealed that the extraction process seemed to closely follow the simultaneous washing and diffusion model (non-stationary diffusion) and the highest yield was obtained at extraction conditions including 3: 1 mL/g of water-to-materials ratio, 204 W of heating capacity and extraction time of 60 min. At optimum conditions, essential oils obtained at the yield of 3.9% (v/w) and its composition was analyzed by GC–MS. The composition of lemon peel essential oil was predominated with Limonene (62.17%) and ϒ-Terpinene (12.356%), which characterizes the scent of this essential oil as well as its increased commercial value.