Abstract. A * -ring R is called (strongly) * -clean if every element of R is the sum of a projection and a unit (which commute with each other). In this note, some properties of * -clean rings are considered. In particular, a new class of * -clean rings which called strongly π- * -regular are introduced. It is shown that R is strongly π- * -regular if and only if R is π-regular and every idempotent of R is a projection if and only if R/J(R) is strongly regular with J(R) nil, and every idempotent of R/J(R) is lifted to a central projection of R. In addition, the stable range conditions of * -clean rings are discussed, and equivalent conditions among * -rings related to * -cleanness are obtained.