Sodium lignosulfonate (SXSL) and long-chain fatty alcohols (LFAs) could enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan, and the compound of SXSL and LFAs have synergies on the enzymatic hydrolysis. SXSL shows a strong enhancement in buffer pH range from 4.0 to 6.0. The enhancement increased with the SXSL dosage and the xylanase loading. The cellulose and lignin in corncob substrate could not only adsorb xylanase nonproductively, but also seriously reduce the accessibility of xylanase on xylan to impede the enzymatic hydrolysis of xylan. Cellulase could break the plant cell wall structure of corncob and make additives work better. The xylose yield of corncob at 72 h increased from 59.4% to 73.7% by adding the compound of 5 g/L SXSL and 0.01% (v/v) n-decanol, which was higher than that without cellulase and additives by 30.7%. Meanwhile, the glucose yield at 72 h of corncob increased from 45.8% to 62.3%. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.