This article studies the effect of low-temperature plasma (LTP) on an ink-jet-printed cotton fabric. Owing to the specific printing and conductivity requirements for ink-jet printing, none of the conventional printing chemicals used for cotton fabric can be directly incorporated into the ink formulation. As a result, the cotton fabric requires pretreatment with the printing chemicals prior to the stage of ink-jet printing. The aim of this article is to study the possibility and effectiveness of applying LTP treatment to enhance the performance of pretreatment paste containing sodium alginate so as to improve the properties of the ink-jet-printed cotton fabric. Scanning electron microscopic pictures show that LTP treatment may cause cracks on the fiber surface and hence more dyes could approach the fiber surface during the ink-jet printing process, leading to a higher dye uptake subsequently. In addition, not only the dye uptake is increased after the LTP treatment but the color-fastness properties and the definition of the final print marks are also improved. Therefore, LTP pretreatment in couple with the ink-jet printing technique could improve the final printed properties of cotton fabric. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.