Abstract: Ethanol production from lignocellulosic material has a great potential for wide application. This review article summarized the lignocellulosic ethanol processes such as pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentative. Moreover, the efficiency of pretreatment methods and xylose fermentation were discussed. Besides, the recent progress of lignocellulosic ethanol, such as fermentative strains, genetic engineering, fermentative processes (e.g. SHF and CBP) and the integration of fermentation and separation were described. Finally, some suggestions for future works with the development of lignocellulosic ethanol were proposed.