Plackett-Burman (PB) design and central composite design (CCD) were applied to optimize of xylose fermentation for ethanol production by Candida shehatae HDYXHT-01. The PB results showed that (NH4)2SO4, KH2PO4, yeast extract and inoculum volume were the main affecting factors. With ethanol productivity as the target response, the optimal fermentation was determined by CCD and response surface analysis (RSM). The optimal fermentation conditions were (NH4)2SO4 1.73 g/L, KH2PO4 3.56 g/L, yeast extract 2.62 g/L and inoculum volume 5.66%. Other fermentation conditions were xylose 80 g/L, MgSO4·7H2O 0.1g/L, pH 5.0 and 250 mL flask containing 100 mL medium and cultivated at 30 °C for 48 h and the agitation speed was 140 r/min. Under this fermentation conditions, ethanol productivity was 26.18 g/L, which was 1.15 times of the initial.