Among natural polymers, starch is one of the most promising biodegradable materials because it is a renewable bioresource that is universally available and of low cost. However, the properties of starch-based materials are not satisfactory. One approach is the use of nano-filler as reinforcement for starch-based materials. in this paper, a nanocomposite is prepared using ZnO nanoparticles stabilized by carboxymethylcellulose sodium (CMC) as the filler in glycerol plasticized-pea starch (GPS) matrix by the casting process. According to the characterization of ZnO-CMC particles with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TG), ZnO (about 60 wt%) is encapsulated with CMC (about 40 wt%) in ZnO-CMC particles with the size of about 30-40 nm. A low loading of ZnO-CMC particles can obviously improve the pasting viscosity, storage modulus, the glass transition temperature and UV absorbance of GPS/ZnO-CMC nanocomposites. When the ZnO-CMC contents vary from 0 to 5 wt%, the tensile yield strength increase from 3.94 MPa to 9.81 MPa, while the elongation at break reduce from 42.2% to 25.8%. The water vapor permeability decrease from 4.76 x 10(-6) to 1.65 x 10(-10) g m(-1) s(-1) Pa(-1). (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.