Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Pers. is one of the fast growing tree legumes having the efficiency to produce around 50 t ha(-1) above ground dry matters in a year. In this study, biomass of 2 years old S. grandiflora was selected for the chemical composition, pretreatments and enzymatic hydrolysis studies. The stem biomass with a wood density of 3.89 +/- 0.01 gm cm(-3) contains about 38% cellulose, 12% hemicellulose and 28% lignin. Enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated biomass revealed that phosphoric acid (H3PO4) pretreated samples even at lower cellulase loadings [1 Filter Paper Units (FPU)], could efficiently convert about 86% glucose, while, even at higher cellulase loadings (60 FPU) alkali pretreated biomass could convert only about 58% glucose. The effectiveness of phosphoric acid pretreatment was also supported by Xray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.