In the present study, novel pre-treatment for spent coffee waste (SCW) has been proposed which utilises the superior oxidising capacity of alkaline KMnO4 assisted by ultra-sonication. The pre-treatment was conducted for different exposure times (10, 20, 30 and 40 min) using different concentrations of KMnO4 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5% w/v) at room temperature with solid/liquid ratio of 1:10. Pretreating SCW with 4% KMnO4 and exposing it to ultrasound for 20 min resulted in 98% cellulose recovery and a maximum lignin removal of 46%. 1.7 fold increase in reducing sugar yield was obtained after enzymatic hydrolysis of KMnO4 pretreated SCW as compared to raw. SEM, XRD and FTIR analysis of the pretreated SCW revealed the various effects of pretreatment. Thermal behaviour of the pretreated substrate against the native biomass was also studied using DSC. Ultrasound-assisted potassium permanganate oxidation was found to be an effective pretreatment for SCW, and can be a used as a potential feedstock pretreatment strategy for bioethanol production. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.