Green liquor (GL) combined with H2O2 (GL-H2O2) and green liquor (GL) combined with ethanol (GL-ethanol) were chosen for treating sugarcane bagasse. Results showed that the glucose yield (calculated from the glucose content as a percentage of the theoretical glucose available in the substrates) of sugarcane bagasse from GL-ethanol pretreatment (97.7%) was higher than that from GL-H2O2 pretreatment (41.7%) after 72 h hydrolysis with 18 filter paper unit (FPU)/g-cellulose for cellulase, 27,175 cellobiase units (CBU)/g-cellulose for beta-glucosidase. Furthermore, about 94.1% of xylan was converted to xylose after GL-ethanol pretreatment without additional xylanase, while the xylose yield was only 29.2% after GL-H2O2 pretreatment. Scanning electron microscopy showed that GL-ethanol pretreatment could break up the fiber severely. Moreover, GL-ethanol pretreated substrate was more accessible to cellulase and more hydrophilic than that of GL-H2O2 pretreated. Therefore, GL-ethanol pretreatment is a promising method for improving the overall sugar (glucose and xylan) yield of sugarcane bagasse. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.