Microwave pretreatment of defatted rice bran for enhanced recovery of total phenolic compounds extracted by subcritical water

► Microwave pretreatment of defatted rice bran prior to SWE gave enhanced TP yields. ► Suitable pretreatment condition was 80 °C, 10 min and rice bran:water ratio of 1:2. ► SWE of microwave pretreated defatted rice bran gave up to 55% enhanced TP yield. ► Time required for SWE at 200 °C of pretreated bran was reduced from 30 to 10 min. ► Microwave pretreated rice bran gave extracts with increased antioxidant activity.