A tough non-woven material of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with an area of up to several tens of square centimeters (see Figure) has been prepared by a direct-floating chemical vapor deposition method followed by purification. The SWNT non-woven material exhibits an extremely high Young's modulus of ca. 0.4-0.7 TPa, so it has potential applications in mechanical reinforcement of composite materials.