Frequently spraying of natural starch slurry onto the formed wet web has been adopted to improve properties of paperboards. This conventional starch spraying technique, however, becomes less effective in strength improvement. In this study the effects of various factors including wet web dryness, quantity of starch slurry sprayed, and drying temperature on paperboard properties were investigated. Migration of starch granules into the webs appeared to cause a reduction in plybond strength when the web dryness was lower than this level. Wet webs should contain enough water to swell the starch granules, and at the same time they should be heated to a temperature high enough for complete cooking of the sprayed starches to occur. This suggested that preheating of the wet web can be employed to improve the plybond strength.