Polymethyl methacrylate has been spread on a 0.1% (w/v) aqueous solution of polyethylene oxide. The near surface organisation of both polymers and the water has been determined using neutron reflectometry. Both deuterio and hydrogenous forms of both polymers were available and the reflectivity data at the lower concentration of polymethyl methacrylate investigated (1.0 mg m(-2)) could be interpreted using the kinematic approximation. At this lower concentration both polymethyl methacrylate and polyethylene oxide regions require a two-layer model to fit the reflectivity data. The thickness of the denser methacrylate near the water surface is 22 Angstrom, the less dense layer further into the air phase has a thickness of 28 Angstrom but a concentration one-tenth of the dense layer. At the higher concentration of polymethyl methacrylate (3.0 mg m(-2)) the near surface water layer becomes very diffuse and broad, and the full kinematic approximation could only be used for the polymethyl methacrylate reflectivity data. A two-layer model again gave the best fit to the data with thicknesses not much greater than those at the lower surface concentration, however the total concentration of polymethyl methacrylate was now much lower than that dispensed, suggesting the existence of a third layer which was so low in concentration of polymer that it contributed but little to the reflectivity. Using the optical matrix analysis method, the near surface water layer was modelled as a single very diffuse layer to which the majority of the polyethylene oxide was confined. The thickness of this uniform layer of polyethylene oxide was 37 Angstrom, almost double the thickness of the layer at the lower polymethyl methacrylate surface concentration. No polyethylene oxide was desorbed from the interface, the surface concentration was identical for both surface concentrations of polymethyl methacrylate and of the same value as that obtained in the absence of a spread polymethyl methacrylate him.