An effective strategy was reported to fabricate poly(ethylene vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) nanocomposites with well-dispersed thermally reduced graphene (TRG) sheets in a polymer matrix via a solution-mixing method. TRG was successfully exfoliated into few-layer isolated nanosheets by rapid heating of dry graphene oxide powders under inert gas and high temperature. The resultant TRG/EVOH composites turned out to have a 280% increase in tensile strength (30.5 MPa) and a 400% increase in Young's modulus (1111.7 MPa) by adding only 4.0 wt % TRG, compared to those of neat EVOH. Moreover, the permeability coefficient of O-2 for the TRG/EVOH nanocomposite films with only 0.5 wt % TRG loading is significantly decreased to 8.517 X 10(-15) cm(3) cm cm(-2) s(-1) Pa-1, which is nearly 1671 times lower than that of neat EVOH films. Therefore, the TRG/EVOH nanocomposites offer excellent potential applications as packaging materials to extend the shelf life of perishable goods and prescription medicines.