pdfetex: command not found

Maybe Your $PATH variable doesn't contain the default paths? echo $PATH should give something like:

[root@server ~]# echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin

If it's empty, You may set the PATH variable with this command

export PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/root/bin"

On CentOS possible default full paths are:

/usr/bin/pdfetex - from package: texlive

You may install the required package with command yum install {package}

On Debian possible default full paths are:

/usr/bin/pdfetex - from package: texlive-binaries

You may install the required package with command apt-get install {package}

Error in other languages:
pdfetex: bevel nie gevind nie
pdfetex: comandă negăsită
pdfetex: comando não encontrado
pdfetex: commande introuvable
pdfetex: command not found
pdfetex: käsku ei ole
pdfetex: không tìm thấy lệnh
pdfetex: komanda nerasta
pdfetex: Kommando nicht gefunden.
pdfetex: kommandot finns inte
pdfetex: komut yok
pdfetex: nie znaleziono polecenia
pdfetex: níor aimsíodh an t-ordú
pdfetex: no se encontró la orden
pdfetex: no s'ha trobat l'ordre
pdfetex: opdracht niet gevonden
pdfetex: parancs nem található
pdfetex: perintah tidak ditemukan
pdfetex: príkaz nenájdený
pdfetex: příkaz nenalezen
pdfetex: команда не найдена
pdfetex: командата не е открита
pdfetex: 命令找不到
pdfetex: コマンドが見つかりません