The degradation of a kind of cellulose-based complex material was investigated by the soil bury and exposure methods. The results showed that the average molecular weight of the sample decreased 66.7% and the copper number increased from 1.32 to 7.58 after 9 weeks as measured by the soil bury method. Meanwhile the average molecular weight decreased 38.7% and the copper number increased from 1.32 to 5.00 after 14 weeks of exposure under the sun.