Microwave heating has attracted much attention recently due to its nature of volumetric heating and instant heating. In this study, microwave heating was adopted not only as a heating method but also an approach to enhance the pyrolysis of biomass. Microwave induced pyrolysis was carried out at 500°C with silicon carbide as a microwave energy absorber. Conventional pyrolysis of gumwood was also conducted under the same operating temperature as microwave-enhanced pyrolysis. The yields of pyrolytic bio-oil and bio-gas under microwave heating are 8.52 wt% and 73.26 wt% respectively, which are higher than the products obtained via conventional methods under similar operating conditions. A series tests were performed to compare the difference between the yields of pyrolytic products, i.e. gaseous products (bio-gas), liquid products (bio-oil) and solid products( bio-char). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrum (GC-MS) and Gas Chromatograph (GC) were used in this study to characterize the morphology of bio-chars, the composition of bio-gas and bio-oil respectively. The bio-oil produced via microwave pyrolysis has simpler constituents compared with that produced via conventional pyrolysis. The proportion of syngas (H2+CO) and methane (CH4) in the gas product produced under microwave-enhanced pyrolysis are 62.52 vol % and 22.41vol % respectively, which are higher than those in the products of conventional pyrolysis. It is clear that microwave-enhanced pyrolysis has shown a great potential as an alternative method for biomass conversion.