A comprehensive research on plasma electrolysis as pretreatment method for water hyacinth (WH) was performed based on lignin content, crystalline structure, surface property, and enzymatic hydrolysis. A large number of active particles, such as HO center dot and H2O2, generated by plasma electrolysis could decompose the lignin of the biomass samples and reduce the crystalline index. An efficient pretreatment process made use of WH pretreated at a load of 48 wt% (0.15-0.18 mm) in FeCl3 solution for 30 min at 450 V. After the pretreatment, the sugar yield of WH was increased by 126.5% as compared with unpretreated samples. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.