This paper reports the germicidal effect (GE) of Escherichia coli on the surface of medical poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) in remote-oxygen plasma. The concentration of active species in plasma is determined by means of double Langmuir electron probe and electron-spin resonance (ESR) diagnosis. Moreover, surface properties of sterilized PVC are characterized by the water contact angle measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The distribution of electrons, ions, and radicals in plasma reactor is different. High-purity radicals are obtained at 40 cm from the induction coil which is called remote-plasma zone. By remote-oxygen-plasma sterilization, GE value reach 4.12 under the conditions of treatment time of 60 s, plasma RF power of 100 W and oxygen flux of 60 cm(3)/min. Compared with direct-oxygen-plasma sterilization, remote plasma can enhance the hydrophilic property and limit the degradation of the PVC surface. After remote-plasma sterilization, PVC surface energy is increased more than twice, which mainly resulted from the increase of surface polar force gamma(p)(L), and hydrogen bonding force gamma(h)(L). Moreover, remote-plasma sterilization can increase oxygenated functional groups on PVC surface. Experimental results show that remote plasma can inactivate E. coli on the medical PVC substrate effectively. Furthermore, it can optimize the surface properties. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.