Cellulose is the most abundant biomaterial derived from the living organisms on the earth; plant
is the major contributor to the cellulose pool present in the biosphere. Cellulose is used in
variety of applications ranging from nanomaterials to biofuel production. For biofuel
production, cellulose has first to be broken-down into its building blocks; β-D-glucosyl unit
which subsequently can be fermented to different product such as ethanol, acetic acids, among
others. Cellulase is the enzymatic system, which degrades cellulose chains to glucose monomers.
Cellulase is a group of three enzymes endoglucanase, exoglucanases and β-glucosidases which
act together to hydrolyze cellulose to glucose units. Cellulases are found in bacteria, fungi,
plants, and some animals. Fungi are the preferred source of cellulase for industrial applications
since they secrete large quantities of cellulase to culture medium. Despite a remarkable number
of fungi found to produce cellulase enzymes, few have been extensively investigated because they
produce large quantities of these enzymes extracellularly. In this mini-review, the production of
cellulase from fungi and the parameters affecting cellulase production are discussed briefly on light of recent publications. Furthermore, potential applications of cellulase enzymes are highlighted
