Abstract: Ethanol is not only one of the most important renewable fuels but also widely used in food industry，chemical engineering and medicine. High-cell-density fermentation (HCDF)，which has great application potential at industrial level，is effective in maximizing ethanol productivity and reducing industrial waste substantially. This review is aiming to provide a reference to the future research and development in HCDF ethanol production through analyzing the present evolution of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in starch based，including yeast selection and mutation，optimization in culture condition，process design and integration，as well as the developments in the application of multivariate statistical control，neural networks，fuzzy control and knowledge-based supervision.