Cynara cardunculus L. (cardoon) is a Mediterranean perennial herb offering good potential as substrate for sustainable production of bioethanol. In this work the first approach to the study of dilute-acid pretreatment of cardoon biomass for biological conversion was made. The influence of temperature (160-200 degrees C), acid concentration (0-0.2% [w/w]), and solid concentration (5-10% [w/v]) in the formation of free sugars and sugar decomposition products in the prehydrolyzate was studied using a response surface methodology. Results show a negative interaction effect between acid concentration and temperature in xylose recovery yield in prehydrolyzate, whereas dry matter concentration does not exert a significant effect. Xylose recovery yield reaches a maximum of about 80% of the content in dry untreated raw material at 180 degrees C and 0.1 or 0.2% acid addition. At these conditions the ratio of monomers found in prehydrolyzate in relation to total sugar yield for xylose is close to 100%. Furfural concentration, the major furan determined in the prehydrolyzate, increases as pretreatment severity rises. Maximum furfural yield of 4.2 g/100 g dry untreated raw material was found at 200 degrees C and 0.2% acid concentration. The yield of furfural at the conditions in which maximum xylose recovery is attained is substantially lower, less than 2 g/100 g dry untreated raw material. This fact supports the idea of using moderate temperatures in dilute-acid processes, which at the same time provides reasonably high sugar recovery yield and avoids high inhibitory products formation.