The study was an attempt to measure the effect of critical reading strategies, namely; re-reading, questioning and annotating on recall and retention of collocations by intermediate Iranian EFL learners. To this end, Nelson proficiency test was administered to ninety (n = 90) Iranian EFL learners studying at Zaban Sara language institute in Esfahan, Iran. Sixty (n = 60) language learners were selected based on their scores on Nelson test. A pretest of collocation was administered to these participants to homogenize them based on their knowledge of collocations. Next, the participants were divided into two groups as the control group and the experimental group. While the participants in the experimental group were taught how to use critical reading strategies prior to answering the reading comprehension questions, the participants in the control group were simply asked to read the text and answer the reading comprehension questions. Both groups took a researcher-made collocation test as the test of recall (after the treatment) and the test of retention (after a 2-week interval). The findings of the study through independent samples t-test revealed that teaching critical reading strategies has a positive effect on both recall and retention of collocations. The findings of the study could be used by language teachers who aim at more effective understanding of collocations in their classes.