AbstractPolyvinyl alcohol (PVA) finds extensive applications in several industries, especially in the textile industry for sizing of warp yarns and for finishing of fabrics. A suitable method has been described to estimate PVA colorimetrically using sulphuric acid‐iodine as the complexing reagent. This method can be used to estimate very accurately the amount of PVA in powders, commercial aqueous PVA solutions and in mixtures with starch, dextrin, carboxy methyl cellulose or guar gum in powders or pastes since PVA is very expensiv