Renal complications are an important component of advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) disease, and these complications significantly contribute to morbidity and mortality in these patients. Microalbuminuria is an early marker of the presence of subclinical renal disease in systemic diseases. Studies of microalbuminuria is in HIV-infected patients in our environment are few. The objective of this study was therefore to determine the prevalence and risk factor of microalbuminuria in HIV-infected patients receiving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in Zaria, Nigeria. Screening for microalbuminuria (albumin creatinine ratio (ACR) = 3-30 mg/mmol) was carried out in 101 HIV-positive patients on ARV drugs and 100 HIV-negative controls. The data obtained were analysed using statistical programme for the social sciences 11.0 (SPSS 11.0). Microalbuminuria was present in 20.8% of HIV-infected patients on treatment compared with 1.0% of controls. HIV-infected patients with microalbuminuria were older, had lower CD4 count, lower eCrCl and lower duration on ARV therapy compared with normoalbuminuric patients (p<0.05). The mean values of CD4 count in microalbuminuric (258.67 ± 36.81 cells/µl) patients was apparently lower than that of normoalbuminuric (322.52 ± 17.73 cells/µl) patients, but significantly higher (p<0.001) in controls (729.21 ± 20.28 cells/µl). There was a statistically significant association (p<0.001) between ACR and age in microalbuminuric patients. The mean durations on ARV drugs in microalbuminuric patients (23.90 ± 6.08 months) was significantly lower (p<0.05) than in normoalbuminuric patients (41.39 ± 3.17 months), also there was a statistically significant negative correlation (p<0.05) between ACR and duration on ARV therapy in microalbuminuric patients. This study demonstrates a high prevalence of microalbuminuria. This will allow for early identification of renal disease in patients with some evidence of immunosuppression, thus possibly preventing the deterioration of renal function and severity of HIV disease with early initiation of ARV therapy