The present work investigated the effects of subcritical CO2 pretreatment of sugarcane bagasse at different CO2 pressure, pretreatment time, and temperature with relative high-solid concentration (15% w/v) to the composition of prehydrolyzate and the enzymatic hydrolysis. The results indicated that the maximum xylose yields in prehydrolyzate liquid were 15.78 g (combined 3.16 g xylose and 12.62 g xylo-oligosaccharides per 100 g raw material). Due to the effective removal of hemicellulose, the maximum glucose yield in enzyme hydrolyzate reached 37.99 g per 100 g raw material, representing 91.87% of glucose in the sugarcane bagasse. The maximal total sugars yield (combined xylose and glucose both in prehydrolyzate and enzymatic hydrolyzate) were 52.95 g based on 100 g raw material. These results indicated that subcritical CO2 pretreatment can effectively improve the enzymatic hydrolysis, so it could be successfully applied to sugarcane bagasse.(C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.