Application of softeners on fabrics can usually increase the fabric pilling tendency and it is difficult to obtain a soft handle fabric without pilling during wearing. This research was conducted to use various chemicals to reduce pilling with reasonable softness on the cotton/polyester knitted fabric. Diverse composites of the water-based polyurethane resin (PU), citric acid (CA) as a crosslinking agent and silicone-based softener were selected and applied on the fabric through conventional pad-dry-cure method. The characteristics of the treated fabrics including pilling rate, pilling density, water droplet adsorption time, bending length, crease recovery angle, tensile strength, and water contact angle were examined and reported. Application of the polyurethane resin along with citric acid reduced the fabric pilling. However, co-application of resin, CA, and softener improved the fabric crease recovery angle, bending length, and water droplet adsorption time. The preferred formulation was 20 g L-1 CA, 25 g L-1PU resin, and 20 g L-1 silicone softener. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012