A Langmuir film of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) has been prepared at the air-water interface using water as the spreading solvent. Unlike the conventional PEO film (prepared using chloroform as the solvent), which exhibits the highest surface pressure of 10 mN/m, the present film attains a surface pressure of 17.5 mN/m at high apparent polymer loading (35 mg/m(2)). The pi-A isotherm of a film prepared at low PEO loading was observed to be similar in nature to the conventional isotherm of PEO, and the surface pressure attained for the film is 10.5 mN/m at a loading of 1 mg/m(2). The key step in the preparation of the film is to use a higher initial loading of polymer and multiple compression-expansion cycles to induce aggregation and compaction of PEO molecules in the film. The prepared Langmuir films were characterized in term of surface pressure-surface area isotherms, the hysteresis exhibited by these isotherms, and the static dilatational modulus.