•Haematococcus lacustris produces rich amounts of astaxanthin (AXT).•AXT production was improved due to cellular physiology changes induced by pH shock.•Gene expressions related to astaxanthin production were increased upon with pH shock.•Other inductive techniques could be combined to increase AXT production. In this study, the use of pH shock to improve astaxanthin synthesis in Haematococcus lacustris was investigated. It has been found that pH shock (pH = 4.5, 60 s) imposes stress in the cells and induces physiological changes, which result in astaxanthin accumulation. The optimal acid-base combination of pH shock was H2SO4-KOH, which increased the astaxanthin content per cell to 39 ± 6.92% than those of the control. In addition, pH shock can be applied simultaneously with the other inductive strategies such as high irradiance and carbon source supply. When high irradiance was applied simultaneously with pH shock, astaxanthin yield was increased 65 ± 0.541% than control. In addition, astaxanthin content per cell was increased 105 ± 6.66% than those of the control, with the concomitant application of carbon source addition with pH shock. Herein, these novel findings provide a useful technique for producing astaxanthin using H. lacustris.