To clarify the importance of the surface charge for the formation of polyelectrolyte multilayers, layer-by-layer (LbL) assemblies of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (pDADMAC) and polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) have been investigated on cellulose films with different carboxylic acid contents (20, 350, 870, and 1200 mu mol/g) regenerated from oxidized cellulose. The wet cellulose films were thoroughly characterized prior to multilayer deposition using quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM), which showed that the mechanical properties were greatly affected by the degree of oxidation of the cellulose. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) force measurements were used to determine the surface potential of the cellulose films by fitting the force data to the DLVO theory. With the exception of the 1200 mu mol/g film, the force measurements showed a second-order polynomial increase in surface potential with increasing degree of oxidation. The low surface potential for the 1200 mu mol/g film was attributed to the low degree of regeneration of the cellulose film in aqueous media due to increasing solubility with increasing charge. The multilayer formation was characterized using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) and stagnation-point adsorption reflectometry (SPAR). Extensive deswelling was observed for the charged films when pDADMAC was adsorbed due to the reduced osmotic pressure when ions inside the film were released, and the 1:1 charge compensation showed that all the charges in the films were reached by the pDADMAC. The multilayer formation was not significantly affected by the charge density above 350 mu mol/g due to interlayer repulsions, but it was strongly affected by the salt concentration during the layer build-up.