Print all unique combination of factors of a given number

Question

What is the most efficient algorithm to print all unique combinations of factors of a positive integer. For example if the given number is 24 then the output should be

Answer 1

Here is my solution based on @rici's ideas.

def factors(number, max_factor=sys.maxint):
    result = []

    factor = min(number / 2, max_factor)
    while factor >= 2:
        if number % factor == 0:
            divisor = number / factor

            if divisor <= factor and divisor <= max_factor:
                result.append([factor, divisor])

            result.extend([factor] + item for item in factors(divisor, factor))

        factor -= 1

    return result

print factors(12) # -> [[6, 2], [4, 3], [3, 2, 2]]
print factors(24) # -> [[12, 2], [8, 3], [6, 4], [6, 2, 2], [4, 3, 2], [3, 2, 2, 2]]
print factors(157) # -> []