Biomass conversion into valuable compounds including fuels, chemicals and materials has become the subject of a wide range of studies in recent years. In spite of the several reports available on transformations of biomass-derived platform molecules into a range of products, chemo-catalytic and biotechnological strategies for the conversion of various feedstocks to key platform chemicals constitute an important area for biomass deconstruction which will allow subsequent processes for high added value products. This contribution has the objective of disclosing a series of strategies for the processing and pretreatment of key biomass feedstocks into platform chemicals, namely bioethanol and key carboxylic acids (e.g. levulinic and succinic acids).