The upturn of viscose fiber market has triggered an augmented dissolving pulp usage over the last decade. Dissolving pulp is feasible to obtain from kraft pulp after two essential steps including hemicellulose removal and subsequent pulp activation. Prerequisite of conversion being hemicellulose reduction can be gently done by using xylanase treatment prior to alkali extraction. Herein, the significance of xylanasetreatment and the optimum xylanase dose required in conjunction with subsequent alkali extraction wasinvestigated. An increase in xylanase dose prior to alkali extraction had no significant effect on pentosanswhile the Fock reactivity and viscosity both improved at the dose of 50 AXU/g. Also, alkali extractionwithout xylanase pretreatment resulted in decreased Fock reactivity, alpha cellulose, brightness and viscosity of paper grade pulp. A moderate dose of xylanase prior to alkali extraction can thus be used tofacilitate the hemicellulose removal while simultaneously protecting the native structure of cellulose.