Wood meal and chips of pine (Pinus sylvestris) were pretreated with oxygen in ethanol-water solutions of sodium hydroxide and then subjected to soda-anthraquinone pulping. It was found that the pretreated wood was delignified much faster than the untreated wood. Additional effects were the improved yield and higher brightness of the resulting pulp. The delignification could be extended nearly to the same kappa number as by kraft pulping and subsequent oxygen bleaching (about 15), although the viscosity of the pulp was comparatively low. The effect of pretreatment and pulping conditions on the delignification and carbohydrate yield is discussed.