In this work, corncob acid hydrolysate was used for microbial oil production by oleaginous yeast Trichosporon coremiiforme for the first time. Hydrolysed by dilute sulphuric acid, corncob could turn into an acid hydrolysate with high sugar concentration (45.7 g L-1) and this hydrolysate could be utilized for microbial oil production without concentration process. After detoxified by overliming and absorption with activated carbon, the corncob hydrolysate could be used by T. coremiiforme efficiently that a total cell mass of 20.4 g L-1 with a lipid content of 37.8% (corresponding to a lipid yield of 7.7 g L-1), and a lipid coefficient of 17.2 could be obtained after cultivation of T. coremiiforme on the corncob hydrolysate for 8 days. Therefore, T. coremiiforme is a promising strain for microbial oil production from lignocellulosic biomass. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.