One-pot synthesis of furfuralcohol from corncob-derived xylose was attempted by the tandem catalysis with solid acid SO42-/SnO2-kaoline and recombination Escherichia coli CCZU-T15 whole-cells in the toluene-water media. Using SO42-/SnO2-kaoline (3.5 wt%) as catalyst, the furfural yield of 74.3% was obtained from corncob-derived xylose in the toluene-water (1:2, v:v) containing 10 mM OP-10 at 170 degrees C for 30 min. After furfural liquor was mixed with corncob-hydrolysate from the enzymatic hydrolysis of oxalic acid-pretreated corncob residue, furfural (50.5 mM) could be completely biotransformed to furfuralcohol with Escherichia coli CCZU-T15 whole-cells harboring an NADH-dependent reductase (ClCR) in the toluene-water (1:3, v: v) containing 12.5 mM OP-10 and 1.6 mM glucose/mM furfural at 30 degrees C and pH 6.5. Furfuralcohol was obtained at 13.0% yield based on starting material corncob (100% furfuralcohol yield for bioreduction of furfural step). Clearly, this one-pot synthesis of furfuralcohol strategy shows high potential application for the effective utilization of corncob.