The plentiful renewable resources-cellulosic materials could be used to produce fuel alcohol through bioconversion. The research on bioconversion of cellulosic materials to produce fuel alcohol around the world mainly focused on the pretreatment of raw materials, the approaches to reduce cellulase cost, the optimization of fermentation course, appropriate use and transformation of microbial species, and the comprehensive use of waste distiller's materials etc. In this paper, the present status of fuel alcohol production by cellulosic materials and the industrilization trend in the near future in the United States, Japan, Canada, Sweden and China were introduced.