Lignocellulosic biomass is a sustainable feedstock for ethanol production compared to otherrnsubstrates. In the ethanol generation process, pretreatment makes cellulose more accessible tornenzymatic hydrolysis by modification of the lignin barrier. Biological pretreatment employsrnselective rot fungi that preferentially degrade lignin with minimum loss of polysaccharides.rnThe system is not well developed; but is advantageous over other pretreatments becausernreactions are enzymatic. These fungi produce ligninolytic enzymes, predominantly ligninrnperoxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP) and laccase (Lac) in different combinations.rnStudies on biological pretreatments have shown lignin weight loss and improvement inrnethanol yield. However, only few well characterised white rots have been explored. The aimrnof this study was to evaluate the potential of 15 wood rotting fungi isolated from Ethiopia forrnpretreatment during 15 days solid state fermentation, using bagasse as lignocellulosicrnsubstrate. The production of ligninolytic enzymes by Fomitiporia aethiopica, F.rnpseudopunctata, Fomitopsis carnea and Vanderbylia vicina were reported for the first time inrnthis study. The white rots, F. aethiopica, Perenniporia tephropora, Inonotus sp. andrnPleurotus sajor-caju, were identified as relatively highly selective based on maximum andrnminimum productivity of ligninolytic and polysaccharide degrading enzymes, respectively.rnThe pretreatment by the white rots caused ligninolysis and better cellulose digestibility wasrnobtained with higher lignin loss. Among the selective degraders, P. tephropora caused thernhighest lignin loss (7.71%) and cellulose digestibility (29.44 %) after enzyme hydrolysis ofrnthe pretreated bagasse. This digestibility showed an improvement by 38.74 % in comparisonrnwith untreated bagasse. In addition to high MnP productivity (55.87 U/g), P. tephropora alsornproduced high titers of Lac (79.65 U/g) in contrast to the other selective degraders that mightrnhave attributed to better lignin loss. The ethanol yield from fermentation of cellulase enzymernhydrolysed P. tephropora pretreated bagasse was 1.87 g/L, which was an improvement byrn27.21 % compared with untreated bagasse (1.47 g/L). Therefore, P. tephropora pretreatmentrnenhances ethanol production from bagasse through partial degradation of lignin, whichrnimproves the accessibility of cellulose to enzyme hydrolysis.rnKey words: bagasse, ethanol, ligninolytic enzymes, pretreatment, rot fungi