Narrow-leaf cattail was employed as lignocellulosic biomass substrate for the investigation of the hydrolysis process of lignocellulosic ethanol. Cellulose saccharification into a high yield of fermentable sugar is an important step in ethanol production. Response surface methodology was utilized in the study of variables affecting enzymatic hydrolysis on the released glucose and xylose. Five levels (-2, 1, 0, +1, +2) of independent variable factors; cellulase (5-25 FPU/g substrate), beta-glucosidase (0-20 U/g substrate), hydrolysis temperature (30-50 degrees C), and hydrolysis time (24-96 h), were randomly setup by using the Design of Experiment program. The significance of the regression model was high; with 95% confidence interval (less than 5% error). The predicted result after optimization was also in good agreement with the experimental data. An optimal condition; 13.50 FPU/g substrate, 16.50 U/g substrate, 50 degrees C and 24 h, was obtained, yielding a released glucose of 552.9 mg/g substrate (75.6% saccharification) and a released xylose of 74.0 mg/g substrate (45.6% saccharification). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.