The effect of molecular weight of polyethyleneglycol (PEG) and sodium chloride (NaCl) on the gelation temperature of methylcellulose (MC) was studied with the objective to develop a MC based formulation for sustained delivery of ophthalmic drug. The gelation temperature of 1% MC was 60 +/- 0.40 degrees C. It was found that the gelation temperature of MC was reduced with the addition of 10% PEG and extent of reduction of gelation temperature was depended on the molecular weight of PEG at same PEG concentration of 10%. The gelation temperature of MC was reduced by 10.4 to 5.9 degrees C with the increasing molecular weight of PEG starting from 400 to 20,000 ((Mn) over bar) depending on the method of determination of gelation temperature. To reduce the gelation temperature of MC close to physiological temperature (37 degrees C), 6% NaCl was added in the different MC-PEG combinations containing different molecular weight of PEG. It was observed that the drug release time increased from 5 to 8 h with the increase in molecular weight of PEG from 400 to 20,000 ((Mn) over bar) and this was due to the maximum viscosity and gel strength of MC-PEG20000-NaCl ternary combination. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 631-637, 2010