A paddy residue based corrosion inhibitor was prepared by treating finely powdered rice straw with aqueous ethanol under acid catalyst (0.01 MH2so4). Commercial alkali lignin was obtained from Sigma-Aldrich. Prior to the corrosion test, the extraction yield and alkali lignin was characterized via FTIR to determine the functional group. The effect of paddy residue extract and commercial alkali lignin on the corrosion inhibition of carbon steel in 1M HCl was investigated through the weight loss method, potentiodynamic polarization technique and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The corrosion inhibition efficiency of the extract and alkali lignin at different immersion times (3h, 24h and 42h) was evaluated. The results show that the paddy waste extract exhibited lesser weight loss of carbon steel in the acidic medium in comparison to the commercial alkali lignin, suggesting that the paddy residue extract is more effective than the commercial alkali lignin in terms of its corrosion inhibition properties. The results obtained proves that the extract from paddy residue could serve as an effective inhibitor for carbon steel in acidic mediums.