The effects of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) on shear strength, viscosity, mobility and storage stability of starch-based wood adhesive were studied. The action mechanisms of CTAB were preliminarily discussed. It was showed that, although CTAB addition resulted in slight decrease in shear strength of starch-based wood adhesive, the mobility and the storage stability of adhesive could be improved significantly. 1.5%(w/w, dry starch basis) of CTAB led to good application performance of starch-based wood adhesive. The results of differential scanning calorimeter(DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) suggested that action mechanisms of CTAB might be to hinder the aggregation of starch molecules, which inhibited the short-term and long-term retrogradation of starch.