The objective of this paper is to show that the soil-geotextile interaction needs to he addressed in addition to the usual tensile and modulus properties when the geotextile is being designed for a specific application. The soil-geotextile interaction can be directly assessed by standard direct shear test. The data presented here show that the shear strength paramaters describing the soil-geotextile interface can he greatly influenced by the type of the geotextile. In this investigation, we examined nine different geotextiles of varying construction and surface textures with two standard soil, under five loading conditions, and compared the shear strength and the frictional resistance with the corresponding values of soil itself The following conclusions were drawned from this study. 1. The shear stress-strain curve shows that there are the residual shear stresses at the soil-geotextile interface. Because of the hydraulic gradient between the soil and the geotextile, the excessive pore water can migrate into the geotextile and among the filaments and dissipate through the soil-geotextile interface. 2. The shear strength of the soil-geotextile interface is affected by the moisture content of the soil. At moisture content lower than the optimum water content of the Proctor compaction test, the shear strength of the soil-geotextile interface is greater. 3. The type and surface roughness of the geotextile have the greatest influence on the interface friction angle between the soil and the geotextile.