Attachment of beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) molecules on cotton textile provides hosting cavities that can include a large variety of guest molecules for specific functionality. Five different new and existing techniques were evaluated for connecting beta-CD and its derivatives to cotton surface. A comparison has been made in terms of maximum attachment of beta-CD on cotton surface. Novel chemical based crosslinking with homo-bi-functional reactive dye (C.I. reactive black 5) and grafting with reactive monochlorotriazinyl-beta-cyclodextrin show maximum attachment to cotton surface. Innovative, enzymatic coupling of especially synthesized 6-monodeoxy-6-mono(N-tyrosinyl)-beta-cyclodextrin was performed on cotton textile surface. Enzymatic coupling was also carried out in a homogeneous system and attachment confirmed by UVvis spectroscopy. This tyrosinase mediated coupling is low temperature and very specific technique. A phenolphthalein based analytical method was partially modified to reliably measure the amount of attached beta-CD on cotton surface. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques were used for surface characterization of the treated and untreated cotton surfaces. Alteration in surface topography has been observed for beta-CD treated samples. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012