A bidirectional controlled quantum state teleportation (BCQST) scheme was proposed by Li et al (2013 Int. J. Theor. Phys.
52 1630) using a five-qubit composite Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger-Bell state as the quantum channel. However, it was found to be unsuccessful for bidirectional teleportation control due to its own security loopholes (Shukla et al 2013 Int. J. Theor. Phys.
52 3790). In this paper, we put forward an improved version of the BCQST scheme so that the loopholes are fixed and the bidirectional control can indeed be achieved. In addition, after the improvement, the revised scheme becomes more feasible in terms of present experimental techniques.