Summary: Isolation of a-cellulose from rice straw has been successfully carried out having 26.95% yield, with 74.28% crystallinity index. The a-cellulose is then chemically modified by grafting acrylic acid monomer onto cellulose using preirradiation graft copolymerization technique. The optimum condition for grafting is obtained at 30 kGy radiation doses, 10% monomer concentration, 60 C grafting temperature and 120 min reaction time, with 84.12% grafting average. The infrared spectroscopy showed a new absorption band at 1720 cm À1 in the modified cellulose, which can be attributed to the presence of carbonyl group of acrylic acid. FESEM imaging showed that the acrylic acid grafting leads to an increase in the roughness and width of the cellulose. The grafting process was found to increase final decomposition temperature of the fibers.