A review article from the journal, “Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining”, presents a relatively good and compact review of the concepts needed to understand the technology for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass (often called “second generation biofuel feedstock”) into biofuels. The major routes for lignocellulosic conversion to biofuels are: (1) biochemical/chemical route: involving the breakdown of cellulose/hemicelluloses from the plant biomass into sugars for subsequent transformation to ethanol by fermentation, and (2) thermochemical route: involves (a) pyrolysis (heating in the absence of air) of the biomass to produce oil, gas and char, or (b) biomass gasification followed by the Fishcer Tropsh process (thermochemical conversion of gasification products into a mixture of hydrocarbons, often referred to as “synthetic biofuels”). The economic issues related to the above conversion routes are also discussed..