The combustible cartridge, as a kind of porous composite material, is easy to absorb moisture, thus affecting its combustion performance. Generally, storage and protection methods of a combustible cartridge are based on multilayer coatings. Nevertheless, it makes the coating process more expensive and complex by increasing the number of coatings layers. In this article, poly (trifluoroethyl methacrylate) was grafted onto the surface of the nano‐size titanium dioxide particles. The fluorine‐containing nanocomposite material and nitrocellulose varnish were used as the film‐forming material of a composite coating. Additives polyvinyl alcohol and polysorbate were separately used as an antistatic agent and surfactant. The final formula of coating was determined. Eventually, the multifunctional coating was deposited on the surface of a combustible cartridge using a spraying method to form the composite coating, and the preparation parameters of the composite coating were determined. Results demonstrate that the varnish‐fluoropolymer composite coating on the surface of combustible cartridge can improve the environmental adaptability and mechanical properties. Furthermore, the composite coating has no negative effects on the combustion performance of combustible cartridge, indicating a promising application in the coating of combustible cartridge to improve its environment adaptability. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:695–703, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers