Due to the abundant, low price characteristic, lots of efforts have been put into producing bulk chemical from lignocellulose biomass, but the low utility of xylose, which is the second main component in lignocellulose, becomes a bottleneck for efficient lignocellulose utilization. This study investigated a novel two-stage corn straw utilization strategy for fumaric acid production by Rhizopus oryzae. Fungal growth was approached in hydrolysates from acid hydrolysis of corn straw, contained 30 g/l xylose; and fumaric acid production was occurred in hydrolysates from enzymatic hydrolysis of the residue corn straw after acid hydrolysis, contained 80 g/l glucose. Under the optimal condition using this two-stage corn straw utilization strategy, the fumaric acid production, was up to 27.79 g/l, with the yield 01 0.35 g/g, productivity of 0.33 g/l/h. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.