In this article, the surface of styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) was brushed with trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCI) (1 or 2 wt % in ethyl acetate) and then thermally treated under different conditions. The chemical modification was characterized by contact angle measurement and surface energy, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and single-lap shear test. The results revealed that the increase of the chlorination temperature was very effective for SBR surface modification by TCI, leading to enhanced surface wettability and shear strength within several minutes. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012