This study showed the potential of elmwood for ethanol production. However, the yield of ethanol from the native form of this substrate was inefficient and an effective pretreatment was necessary to modify its structure. Alkaline pretreatment using 8% (w/v) NaOH solution could significantly improve yield of hydrolysis and ethanol production. The pretreatment resulted in higher cellulase adsorption and desorption, buffering capacity, swelling capacity, and accessible areas, and also lowered cellulose crystallinity, which facilitated hydrolytic enzyme efficiency. The pretreatment at reduced temperature (0 °C) resulted in greater improvement in fermentable sugar production compared with the high temperature pretreatment (80 °C). Furthermore, the enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol production yields were further increased by the addition of non-ionic surfactant Tween-20. The pretreatment showed promising results; however, a techno-economic feasibility study is needed to evaluate the suitability of the process for commercial application.