A process for producing a polyol by reacting an aliphatic aldehyde with
formaldehyde in the presence of a basic catalyst, which comprises a step
of concentration which comprises removing water and unreacted
formaldehyde from a reaction liquid by distillation; a step of extraction
which comprises extracting the polyol from a concentrated reaction liquid
with an extracting reagent; a step of washing with water which comprises
washing an extract liquid with water and separating the liquid into an
oil layer containing the polyol and an aqueous layer; wherein by useing
an specific aliphatic aldehyde as the extracting agent and recovering the
extracting reagent from the oil layer containing the polyol after
adjusting pH of the oil layer, a high purity polyhydric alcohol can be
obtained at a high yield with suppressed formation of byproducts such as
acetal compounds and aldol compounds.