The treatment of cotton or polyester fabric in alkali media is a common modification process for producing a fabric with desirable qualities. Alkali treatment of polyester/cotton fabric could produce a fabric with better performance. In this research, polyester/cotton fabric was treated with NaOH at different temperatures and times. The results show that alkali treatment at the optimum temperature and time with NaOH could hydrolyze the polyester fiber surface and remove some of the impurities from the cotton fiber at the same time and may also improve some of the fabric properties, such as fabric regain, water drop absorbency, and fabric pilling. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.