SynopsisThe behavior of partially acetylated cellulose, partially carboxymethylated cellulose, cyanoethylated cellulose, and cellulose grafted with polyacrylontrile toward three direct dyes, namely, Chlorantine Fast Red 6 BLL, Solophenyl Orange T4RL, and Diphenyl Brilliant Flavine 7GFF, was studied. Partially acetylated cellulose having 2.06% combined acetic acid showed higher dye uptake than the unmodified cellulose. The amount of dye uptake increased as the acetyl content increased up to 4% combined acetic acid. Beyond this, enhancement in the dye uptake was not significant. Whereas partially carboxymethylated cellulose showed a lower dye uptake than the control. The dye uptake decreased considerably as the carboxymethyl groups increased. The same holds true for cyanoethylated cellulose where increasing the cyanoethyl content caused a substantial reduction in the dye uptake. On the other hand, cellulose grafted with polyacrylonitrile up to 18.3% graft yield showed much higher dye uptake than the ungrafted cellulose.