Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) is routinely used for the rapid detection of Avian influenza virus (AIV) in clinical samples, but inhibitory substances present in some clinical specimens can reduce or block PCR amplification. Most commercial RNA extraction kits have limited capacity to remove inhibitors from clinical samples, but using a modified commercial protocol (Ambion MagMAX, Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) with an added high-salt wash of 2 M NaCl and 2 mM ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid was shown to improve the ability of the kit to remove inhibitors from cloacal swabs and some tissues. Real-time RT-PCR was carried out in the presence of an internal positive control to detect inhibitors present in the purified RNA. Cloacal swabs from wild birds were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR comparing RNA extracted with the standard (MagMAX-S) and modified (MagMAX-M) protocols. Using the standard protocol on 2,668 samples, 18.4% of the samples had evidence of inhibitor(s) in the samples, but the modified protocol removed inhibitors from all but 21 (4.8%) of the problem samples. The modified protocol was also tested for RNA extraction from tissues using a TRIzol-MagMAX-M hybrid protocol. Tissues from chickens and ducks experimentally infected with high-pathogenicity Asian H5N1 AIV were analyzed by real-time RT-PCR, and the limit of detection of the virus was improved by 0.5-3.0 threshold cycle units with the RNA extracted by the MagMAX-M protocol. The MagMAX-M protocol reported in the present study can be useful in extracting high-quality RNA for accurate detection of AIV from cloacal swabs and tissues by real-time RT-PCR.