Pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials for ethanol production generates inhibitory compounds that interfere with microbial growth and subsequent fermentation. To facilitate fermentation process, detoxification techniques have been commonly applied to remediate these inhibitory compounds. However, these additional steps result in sugar loss and an extra cost in practice. To meet desired overall yields during ethanol production, it is of great practi-cal importance to improve the inhibitor-tolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the last decade, significant progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms of yeast stress tolerance. This article reviewed the molecular mechanisms of Sacchromyces cerevisiae inhibi-tor tolerance focusing on its enhanced expression and pathway analysis of some key genes. We also discussed the strategies for improving the fermentation performance of yeast.