Sugarcane bagasse Acetosolv pulps were bleached by xylanase and the pulps classified by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and principal component analysis (PCA). Pulp was treated with xylanase for 4-8 hwith stirring at 30 degreesC. Some samples were further extracted with NaOH for 1 h at 65 degreesC. FTIR spectra were recorded directly from the dried pulp samples by using the diffuse reflectance technique. Reduction in kappa number of 69% was obtained after sequence xylanase (4 h)-alkaline extraction. During bleaching the viscosity decreased only 12%. FTIR-PCA showed that the first three principal components (PCs) explained more than 90% of the total variance of the pulp spectra. PC2 x PC1 plot showed that the points related to pulps from sequence xylanase (4 h)-alkaline extraction are different from the other. This group is enlarged by plotting PC3 x PC1 or PC3 x PC2 containing all pulps submitted to alkaline extraction. PC2 and PC3 are the principal factor for differentiation of the pulps. These PCs suffer influence of the eater bands (1740 and 1244 cm(-1)). On the other hand, the pulps bleached only with xylanase could not be differentiated from the nonbleached pulps.