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Bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass can be accomplished by three main steps including pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation. Lignocellulosic biomass must be subjected to pretreatment processes that removes the lignin and enhances the digestibility of cellulose and hemicelluloses making it suitable for enzymatic hydrolysis. The second step of biomass conversion of lignocellulosic biomasses is hydrolysis or saccharification of cellulose and hemicelluloses in to fermentable sugars. The fermentable sugars are converted in to various valuable bio-chemicals. In this review, factors affecting enzymatic hydrolysis have been examined in detail. Different substrate and enzyme related factors that influence the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic feedstocks have been discussed. Various strategies have been reported to overcome the effect of hydrolysis inhibitors and feedback inhibition. The yield of fermentable sugars is improved by the addition of different surface-active additives during hydrolysis.