The binding energy of an exciton in a wurtzite GaN/GaAlN strained cylindrical quantum dot is investigated theoretically.The strong built-in electric field due to the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations of a GaN/GaAlN quantum dot is included.Numerical calculations are performed using a variational procedure within the single band effective mass approximation.Valence-band anisotropy is included in our theoretical model by using different hole masses in different spatial directions.The exciton oscillator strength and the exciton lifetime for radiative recombination each as a function of dot radius have been computed.The result elucidates that the strong built-in electric field influences the oscillator strength and the recombination life time of the exciton.It is observed that the ground state exciton binding energy and the interband emission energy increase when the cylindrical quantum dot height or radius is decreased,and that the exciton binding energy,the oscillator strength and the radiative lifetime each as a function of structural parameters (height and radius) sensitively depend on the strong built-in electric field.The obtained results are useful for the design of some opto-photoelectronic devices. The binding energy of an exciton in a wurtzite GaN / GaAlN strained cylindrical quantum dot is an theoretically. The strong built-in electric field due to the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarizations of a GaN / GaAlN quantum dot is included. Numerical calculations are performed using a variational procedure within the single band effective mass approximation. Valence-band anisotropy is included in our theoretical model by using different hole masses in different wet directions and the exciton lifetime for radiative recombination each as a function of dot radius have been computed. The result elucidates that the strong built-in electric field influences the oscillator strength and the recombination life time of the exciton. It is observed that the ground state exciton binding energy and the interband emission energy increase when the cylindrical quantum dot height or radius is decreased, and that the exciton binding energy, the oscillator strength a nd the radiative lifetime each as a function of structural parameters (height and radius) sensitively depend on the strong built-in electric field. The resulting results are useful for the design of some opto-photoelectronic devices.