Before dyeing, woven cotton fabrics have been passed through different pre-treatments like desizing, scouring, bleaching and mercerising to enhance quality. In every treatment cotton fabric is treated with different chemicals and mechanical processes. After these treatments, the feel of the fabric has been changed. The change in feel or in terms of the hand value of treated fabrics were analysed by determining the bending length, crease recovery angle, SEM, FTIR, surface roughness and smoothness properties. Other physical properties viz. the tear and tensile strength were also evaluated. Fabric surface roughness and smoothness were determined using the Kawabata Evaluation System (KES) and digital image processing method. Using MATLAB software, digital image processing techniques were used to evaluate the roughness index. The study revealed that the pretreatment process alters the fabric surface. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) was carried out using SPSS software in order to establish the relationship between the pre-treatment process effect on the bending length, smoothness and crease recovery angle.