The adsorption behavior of ethyl(hydroxyethyl) cellulose EHEC and hydrophobically modified EHEC (HM-EHEC) at hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces has been studied using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) methods. The adsorbed amounts measured with the different methods were different due to large amounts of water in the films. The slow adsorption process made it reasonable to assume a continuous polymer reconfiguration process at the surface. This was mostly seen for HM-EHEC at the hydrophobic surface, where a more flexible structure was adopted during the adsorption process. A cross-linking agent was seen to truly interpolymer cross-link EHEC at the hydrophilic surface and HM-EHEC at the hydrophobic surface. For EHEC at a hydrophobic surface and for HM-EHEC at a hydrophilic surface, the polymers adsorbed in an individually phase-separated manner, making an interpolymer cross-linking reaction unsuccessful.