In this study, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) and polystyrene (PS) were melt-mixed with multiwalled carbon nanotube (CNT) (MWCNT), respectively. The effect of mixing time, rotor speed, and cooling rate on surface resistivity was investigated. EVA/MWCNT and PS/MWCNT nanocomposites with percolation threshold <1 wt% of MWCNT were prepared using conventional melt-compounding method. When fast cooling was applied for these nanocomposites, a surface resistivity of 10(6) Omega/square was obtained at around 7 wt% of MWCNT for EVA and 10(5) Omega/square at around 3.5 wt% of MWCNT for PS. However, when slow cooling was applied, a surface resistivity of 10(6) Omega/square was obtained at 0.75 wt% of MWCNT for EVA and 10(5) Omega/square at around 0.5 wt% of MWCNT for PS. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report which recognizes the importance of cooling rate on the surface resistivity of polymer/MWCNT nanocomposites. This finding may be potential to the commercialization of the CNT-based polymer nanocomposites. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 50:290-294, 2010. (C) 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers