Influence of atmospheric air plasma treatment on performance of nanoemulsion silicone softener on polyethylene terephthalate fibers was investigated by the use of fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), bending lengths (BL), wrinkle recovery angles (WRA), fiber friction coefficient analysis (FFCA), moisture absorbency (MA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and reflectance spectroscopy (RS). Results indicated that the plasma pretreatment modifies the surface of fibers and increases the reactivity of substrate toward nanoemulsion silicone. Moisture regain and microscopic tests showed that the combination of plasma and silicone treatments on polyethylene terephthalate can decrease moisture absorption due to uniform coating of silicone emulsion on surface of fibers. (C) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.