The goal of this work was to study the influence of several ionic liquids and cationic surfactants on zinc oxide nanoparticle activity in sulfur vulcanization of acrylonitrile butadiene elastomer (NBR). In this article, we discuss the effect of ionic liquids and surfactants on the cure characteristics, crosslink density, and distribution in the elastomer network as well as on mechanical properties of the acrylonitrile butadiene rubber. Ionic liquids (alkylimidazolium salts) and cationic surfactants (alkylammonium bromides) decrease the vulcanization time of rubber compounds. Their application results in the increase of vulcanizate crosslink density as well as of the heterogeneity of elastomer network. The influence of ionic liquids on the acrylonitrile butadiene elastomer properties depends on the anion present in the molecule and on the length of alkyl chains attached to the imidazolium ring. The most active ionic liquids seem to be the ones with the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation or the BF4- anion. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 116: 155-104, 2010