Wave propagation in a Newtonian viscous liquid layer of thickness ‘ h’ and of shear viscosity ‘ η’ bounded by two poroelastic half-spaces is studied. Possible bonding between the poroelastic half-spaces is discussed by considering the limiting forms of the secular equation, when h→0: (1) η is finite or η→0 such that η/h → ∞, (2) η→0 such that η/h → 0, (3) η → 0 such that η/h is a finite nonzero quantity, for each permeable and impermeable surface. It is shown that these three forms respectively represent welded, smooth and loosely bonded interface of poroelastic half-spaces. The secular equation for the interfacial waves for each of the above three types of bonding for infinite wavelength is derived as a particular case. It is observed that this secular equation is the same for all three types of bonding for each permeable and impermeable surface. Several other special cases are obtained.