Lignocellulosic conversion into value-added products: A review

•Involvement of several global agencies to strengthen biofuel production.•Insight into the progress in various pretreatment technologies.•Aspect of cellulase for an effective saccharification process.•Genetic and metabolic engineering towards an enhanced biofuel production.•Fate of lignocellulosic conversion into the derivatives of cellulose and lignin. In the present context of energy crisis, exploration of lignocellulosic biomass has emerged as potential substitute to maintain environmental sustainability. However, the conversion of biomass into value-added products still faces challenges to find a suitable unit operation. The stubborn dependency on the cost intensive enzymatic system, limits an effective saccharification to hydrolyze the biomass. India has been one of the top most agriculturally enriched countries with broad scope of utilizing waste residue that remains as an unused biomass at harvested locations. Hence, in the present script, an overview on the latest R&D initiatives taken by Government of India are briefed to highlight the projects based on biofuels and in addition, global scenario of biofuel production is comprehensively discussed. Further, critical analysis on the advancement of different pretreatment operations are highlighted through latest inventions. Thereafter, biochemistry of cellulase enzyme with essential factors were explored to understand the mechanistic interactions involved during saccharification of biomass. An insight on the latest accomplishments of various fermentation process provides an in depth understanding of metabolic engineering based on the genetic studies of fermentative microorganisms. Finally, the article is concluded with brief discussions on fate of the derivatives obtained from macromolecules such as cellulose and lignin.