This work studies, for the first time, the potential of a laccase from the endophyte fungus Hormonema sp. CECT-13092, compared to a laccase from the saprophyte fungus Trametes villosa, for delignification and detoxification of steam-exploded eucalypt to improve subsequent bioethanol production. Regarding laccase delignification, the use of Hormonema sp. and T. villosa laccases did not show evidence of delignification of steam-exploded material, and rather low glucose and xylose recoveries were obtained during saccharification assays of laccase-treated samples compared with their respective controls. With regard to laccase detoxification, the reduction of the total phenolic inhibitors content presents in steam-exploded material by both laccases (phenols removal of 47 % and 60 % by Hormonema sp. and T. villosa laccases, respectively), triggered the fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae of laccase-treated samples when 0.2 g L