It is essential to use base papers having proper surface characteristics in coating operation for improving coated paper quality and coater runnability. To fulfill these purposes surface sizing of coating base stock with anionic oxidized starch is commonly practiced. It is suggested that use of cationic starch for surface sizing rather than conventional oxidized starch will improve coated paper quality since cationic starch penetrates less into paper structure because of its strong electrostatic interaction with anionically charged paper surface. Strong interaction of cationic surface sizing starch with anionic coating color is expected to promote rapid immobilization of the coating color and improve coating holdout and optical property. The immediate objective of this study was to examine the influence of surface sizing starches on the properties of coated papers. Structural characteristics of the coatings formed on the substrate surface sized with cationic and anionic starches were examined. To enhance the efficiency of cationic surface sizing starch on coated paper properties, strongly charged cationic polymers were added to the surface sizing starch and its effect on coated paper properties was evaluated. Results showed that opacity and light scattering coefficient of coated paper were higher when base paper surface sized with cationic starch was used. Addition of less than 1% of cationic poly-DADMAC to the cationic surface sizing starch improved the opacity of coated paper significantly.