Single layer coatings were prepared with poly(methyl methacrylate)/polystyrene nanoparticles blend by spin-coating, demonstrating excellent antireflection performance after selective removal of polystyrene particles. The thickness, refractive indices and surface roughness of the coatings, which significantly affect their optical performance, can be modulated by the coating conditions. The particle size can be well controlled by the operational conditions for the particle synthesis. The surface microscopic roughness of the coating strongly affects its light transmittance and the dimensionless parameter, roughness/wavelength ratio, dominates the deviation of the real transmittance from the theoretically predicted transmittance. By optimizing the reaction and the film preparation conditions, the transmittance of antireflection coatings can be up to 99.17% in the visible light range. Compared with work previously reported in the literature, the transmittance in the visible light range can be significantly improved via surface roughness modification, which was generally a problem, especially at the short wavelength region. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.