<p>Microalgae are promising sources of food additives, biochemicals, and biofuels, but their large-scale cultivation depends on cost-effective increases in their productivity. In this study, a blue LED-illuminated wave photobioreactor was developed to evaluate the feasibility of cost-effective, wave-driven mixing for enhancing algal productivity. This system combines two light illumination modes (blue and white light) and two controllable hydrodynamic modes (shaking and no shaking). We cultivated <i>Chlorella</i> sp. in two culture media (BG-11 and commercial aquaculture media) using this photobioreactor under different light and hydrodynamic conditions. During a 21-day cultivation, blue LED illumination combined with wave shaking produced the highest algal biomass (114.0 mg L^− 1), carbon fixation rate (8.6 mg L^− 1 day^− 1), and relatively high protein content (32.2% of the dry weight), outperforming all other conditions (i.e., 17.0–64.0 mg L^− 1, 0.95–4.23 mg L^− 1 day^− 1, and 28.2%–34.13%, respectively). We revealed the significant interacting effects of light, shaking, and culture medium on <i>Chlorella</i> sp. growth, implying that algal production may be enhanced by coordinately modifying environmental and cultivation conditions. Although blue LED illumination with shaking during the cultivation in aquaculture medium resulted in only 56% of the algal biomass obtained using the BG-11 medium, the production cost for the aquaculture medium was only 1.1% of that for the BG-11 medium, highlighting its potential suitability for industrial applications. This study demonstrates that energy-efficient blue LED illumination combined with wave-driven mixing and an inexpensive commercial medium can be integrated into a scalable and operationally flexible platform for microalgal production.</p>