The effect of temperature and drying systems on mucilage and cellulose of Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) and Austrocylindropuntia cylindrica (CC) were determined, using a conventional oven (CO) and Refractance window (RW). Mathematical modeling was performed from drying kinetics data using Lewis, Henderson Pabis, Page, and logarithmic models. Activation energy (Ea) and diffusivity (D) were also determined. Mucilage and cellulose were obtained with the microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) technique. The model with the best fit was the logarithmic one, giving a correlation coefficient (R2) greater than 0.99. The obtained activation energies were 22.81 kj mol-1 for Refractance window (RW) and 31.44 KJ mol-1using conventional hot air drying (CO) while a diffusivity of 2.9 *10-8 m2 s-1 for RW and 1.3*10-8 m2 s-1 for CO were found. These results mostrate greater efficiency and less chemical deterioration of the plant sample when dried using Refractance window.