Bioethanol is considered as one of the most likely next generation fuel for automobiles because it is neutral in carbon content and can be produced from the renewable resources like the lignocellulosic biomass that is obtained from rice which is a major by-product of agriculture and is produced in a large amount in India. There are many technological barriers like pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation of the reducible sugars which are needed for efficient conversion of bioethanol from lignocellulosic biomass. In this review various pretreatment processes used for the extraction of bioethanol and resolving the technological challenges to develop a low-cost as well as the efficient commercial process.