The invention discloses a method for producing ethanol by using grain as a raw material, and belongs to the technical field of waste water treatment and ethanol fermentation industry. In the present invention, the anaerobic digestion effluent is mixed with the membrane filtrate after membrane filtration, the residual liquid of the refining tower, partly sterilized distiller's grain clear liquid and other mixing water and the pulverized grain raw material, and then undergoes liquefaction, saccharification and fermentation , distillation and other processes to obtain ethanol, among which, the membrane filtrate accounts for 40-90% of the total batching water quality, the fine tower residue accounts for 1-15% of the total batching water quality, and the distiller's grains accounts for 1-30% of the total batching water quality , and the rest is mixing water. By adjusting the ratio of membrane filtrate, refining tower residual liquid, distiller's grains clear liquid and other mixing water, or adding acetic acid, the volatile acid concentration of the mixing water is controlled at 100-1200mg / L. The method of the invention greatly reduces the discharge of ethanol production wastewater, saves water resources, effectively avoids the problem of ethanol fermentation acid generation, significantly improves the alcohol yield, improves the utilization rate of raw materials by 1-5%, and reduces the energy consumption and energy consumption of ethanol production. cost.