The present invention provides a xylanase, or a modified xylanase enzyme comprising at least one substituted amino acid residue at a position selected from the group consisting of amino acid 11, 116, 118, 144 and 161, the position determined from sequence alignment of the modified xylanase with Trichoderma reesei xylanase II amino acid sequence. The xylanases described herein exhibit improved thermophilicity, alkalophilicity, expression efficiency, or a combination thereof, in comparison to a corresponding native xylanase.