Contamination by lactic acid-producing bacteria is frequently a major challenge in ethanol processes. In this work, high solids loading was used both to keep bacterial infection under control in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of lignocellulosic biomass and to increase the ethanol productivity of the process. With no sterilization of the substrates, lactic acid bacteria contaminated the fermentation process with 8 and 10% suspended solids (SS) substrates, consumed both pentoses and hexoses, and produced lactic acid. However, a high solids loading of 12% SS prevented lactic acid formation, which resulted in higher ethanol yield during the SSF process. This high SS resulted in an ethanol concentration of 47.2 g/L, which satisfies the requirement for industrial lignocellulosic ethanol production.