Photoluminescent cellulose fibers were prepared by impregnation of bleached bagasse pulp with the different cadmium and zinc sulfides nanostructures, namely, CdS, ZnS, CdS/ZnS, ZnS/CdS (Core/shell nanostructures), CdS/ZnS/CdS and ZnS/CdS/ZnS multilayered nanostructures. The prepared cellulosic nanocomposites were characterized regarding strength properties (tensile strength, tensile energy absorption, and burst resistance), optical properties (fluorescence emission), thermal stability, and dielectric properties. The strength properties of paper sheets nanocomposites impregnated with different nanoparticles solutions were noticeably decreased in spite of the very low loading of the fibers with the semiconductor nanoparticles. The decrease in tensile index, tensile energy absorption, and burst index of paper sheets nanocomposites are found to be ranged from 12-27, 13-36, and 11-38 %, respectively. The different paper sheets nanocomposites showed fluorescence emission different from the as prepared polyethyleneimine-stabilized nanoparticles. Thermogravimetric analysis results showed that: the semiconductor nanoparticles did not affect the onset degradation temperature of cellulosic fibers but it caused faster termination of the main degradation step. The dielectric loss and the dc-conductivity of cellulosic fibers increased as a result of impregnating the fibers. The nature of the nanoparticles and the properties of the interphases strongly influenced the dielectric properties of the cellulosic/semiconductors nanocomposites. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 1,15:2847-2854, 2010