The water-soluble N-(2-hydroxy)propyl-3-trimethylammonium chitosan chloride (HTCC) was prepared by chitosan and glycidyl trimethyl ammonium chloride. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic analysis spectrum confirmed that glycidyl trimethyl ammonium chloride was grafted to the amino groups of chitosan via substitution reaction (Zhao et al., Int J Pharm 2010, 393, 268; Montazer and Afjeh, J Appl Polym Sci 2007, 103, 178). The obtained chitosan derivative was used to modify cotton fabrics for improving aqueous pigment-based inkjet printing and antibacterial properties. Scanning electron microscope images showed that HTCC was adhered onto the cotton fabrics surface and formed film structure. The K/S value on printed cotton substrates increased from 3.20 to 4.87, which indicated that higher color yield was achieved in this way. Modified samples performed better crocking fastness and laundering fastness than the control cotton fabrics. The line definition of modified cotton fabrics respectively, improved 16.5% and 12.6% in the warp and weft direction as the specified line width was 0.5 x 103 mu m. Samples also showed good antibacterial potential, the inhibitory rate for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were both more than 95% when the concentration of HTCC used in the pretreatment solution was 0.8%. The antibacterial effect was found to be durable for 20 laundering cycles. However, the hand feeling of modified cotton fabrics presented a slight decrease. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012