Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is the most commonly practiced operation in lignocellulose bioconversion to avoid the sugar product inhibition to cellulose enzymes. In this study, for the first time SSF was tested on microbial lipid fermentation using the diluted acid pretreated and bio-detoxified corn stover. The results show that SSF was effective than the separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) on lipid accumulation of Trichosporon cutaneum CX1 cells in both the small scale (5 L) and the enlarged scale (50 L) bioreactors. The solutions for the oxygen transfer and the lipid extraction in SSF practically worked well. The process parameters were optimized and the lipid yield obtained were 3.03 g/L in the 5 L, and 3.23 g/L in the 50 L, respectively. The result also shows that the cellulose enzyme could be partially recycled in the SSF. The study provided a practical and efficient way for microbial lipid production from lignocellulose material. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.