Purpose Friction is considered to be one property of cloth that has considerable importance in the fields of both technological and subjective assessment for surface properties of textile fabrics. The purpose of this study is to investigate the affective aspects of yarn and fabric structural parameters on the behavior of surface friction of plain woven fabrics. Design/methodology/approach In this study, nine varieties of half-bleached cotton plain-woven fabrics with three weft yarn count (tex) and three weft thread density (ppc) are produced and will be examined for their frictional characteristics. The surface frictional properties of plain-woven fabrics were measured by using Kawabata (KES-Fb4) testing instrument. The ANOVA analysis is used to determine how yarn (count) and fabric (density) structural parameters does influence the surface friction properties of the fabrics. Also, the interaction effects between the factors (count and density) on the response variable (surface friction) of plain-woven fabrics. Findings The findings of this study revealed that the effects of weft yarn count and pick-density have statistically significant on the frictional behavior of the fabric surface properties at a 95% confidence interval. Thus, weft yarn count has a positive correlation with both coefficient of friction (MIU) and mean deviation of coefficient of friction (MMD) on frictional behavior of the fabric surface properties. On the other hand, pick density has a negative correlation with both MIU and MMD on frictional behavior of the fabric surface properties. The weft count, pick density and their interactions (Count X Density) have multicollinearity in the experiment term because the variance inflation factor values were greater than one. Originality/value The findings of this study can be routinely used across the textile industries and laboratories to provide a fundamental understanding regarding the surface frictional properties of the woven fabric for different end applications concerning the yarn structural parameters and fabric structural parameters. And the relationship of count and density with surface friction of plain woven fabrics.