BACKGROUND: The high crystallinity of cellulose underlies the recalcitrance that this polymer presents in enzymatic degradation. Thus, a pre-treatment step is applied in most bioconversion processes. Treatments with ionic liquids are considered an emerging pre-treatment technology, owing to their high efficiency in solvating cellulose, over molecular solvent systems. RESULTS: Crystalline cellulose with and without ionic liquid( 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazoliumacetate) treatment, bothcommercially available, were used as substrates in enzymatic hydrolysis reactions using the earlier evaluated cellulolytic system of Fusarium oxysporum. The in situ removal of the hydrolysate during reactions enhanced the reaction rate as well as the overall glucose production. Ionic liquid treatment significantly decreased cellulose crystallinity and enhanced bioconversion yields and rates. The effects of cellulose structural changes during treatmentonhydrolysis rate were investigated andthe recalcitrance constants were determined. CONCLUSION: The study showed that ionic liquid-treated cellulose became more homogeneous and more easily degradable than the untreated cellulose, a conclusion that was expressed mathematically by the difference in the recalcitrance constants for the two substrates. It was concluded that glucose production from ionic liquid-treated cellulose could achieve very high conversion yields in consolidated bioprocesses or during simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. (C) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry