The cell viability and fermentation performance often deteriorate in fermentations of spent sulphite liquor (SSL). This investigation therefore addresses the question of how different cultivation conditions for yeast cells influence their ability to survive and boost the ethanol production capacity in an SSL-based fermentation process. The strains used as pitching agents were an industrially harvested Saccharomycescerevisiae and commercial dry baker's yeast. This study therefore suggests that exposure to SSL in combination with nutrients, prior to the fermentation step, is crucial for the performance of the yeast. Supplying 0.5 g/l fresh yeast cultivated under appropriate cultivation conditions may increase ethanol concentration more than 200%.