The behavior of tethered polymers on gel/gel adhesion is studied with the single-chain mean-field (SCMF) theory. It is shown that the gel surface structure, the gel/gel adhesion strength, the equilibrium gel/gel distance, and the detailed interface structures can be tailored by specifically designed tethered layers on gel surfaces. The SCMF theory allows to study the effect of various variables of tethered layers, such as the surface coverage, the attraction between polymers and gels, and the composition of block copolymers. These theoretical results provide guidelines for experimental designs of novel gel materials with tethered layers. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.