A two-stage process was evaluated to increase sugar recovery. Firstly, corn stover was treated with dilute hydrochloric acid to recover the xylose, and then the residue was subjected to a wet-milling pretreatment. Dilute hydrochloric acid showed a high xylose recovery during the first stage. The optimal condition was 120 degrees C and 40 min for 0.7 wt% dilute hydrochloric acid pretreatment followed by wet-milling pretreatment for 15 min. The xylose and glucose yield were 81.0% and 64.0%, respectively, with a cellulase dosage at 3 FPU/g of substrate. This two-stage process was effective on account of the removal of hemicelluloses in the first stage and the delamination of cell wall in the second stage, increasing the possibility of adsorption of cellulose to enzymes, and resulting in a high sugar recovery with a very low enzyme loading. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.