Commercial polylactide (PLA) films are coated with a thin (20 nm) non-toxic polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) film made from sodium alginate and chitosan and additionally with a 25-nm thick atomic layer deposited (ALD) Al2O3 layer. The double-coating of PEM + Al2O3 is found to significantly enhance the water vapor barrier properties of the PLA film. The improvement is essentially larger compared with the case the PLA film being just coated with an ALD-grown Al2O3 layer. The enhanced water vapor barrier characteristics of the PEM + Al2O3 double-coated PLA films are attributed to the increased hydrophobicity of the surface of these films. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.