The aim of present study was to obtain total reducing sugars (TRS) from bamboo under subcritical water (SCW) treatment in a batch reactor at the temperature ranging from 170 degrees C to 220 degrees C and 40 min hydrolysis time. Experiments were performed to investigate the effects of temperature and time on TRS yield. The maximum TRS yield (42.21%) was obtained at lower temperature (180 degrees C), however longer reaction time (25 min). X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis were used to characterise treated and untreated bamboo samples. The XRD profile revealed that crystallinity of bamboo increased to 71.90% with increase in temperature up to 210 degrees C and decreased thereafter to 70.92%. The first-order reaction kinetic model was used to fit the experimental data to obtain rate constants. From the Arrhenius plot, activation energy and pre-exponential factor at 25 min time were found to be 17.97 kJ mol(-1) and 0.154 min(-1), respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.