Enhancing the breakdown of corn stover is crucial for making ethanol efficiently. By using urea and steam explosion together, researchers found the best conditions for producing ethanol from corn stover. They discovered that adding 4.87% urea and using 1.22 MPa steam pressure led to the highest ethanol production. This method increased the amount of sugar obtained from corn stover by 116.42%. The cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in the pretreated corn stover broke down more compared to untreated corn stover. The conversion rate of sugar to alcohol was around 48.3%, and the ethanol yield was 66.5%. This study provides new insights into improving ethanol production from corn stover.