Chitosan is derived from chitin, a common constituent of crusts of crabs and shrimps as well as of fungal cell walls. It is a natural and renewable polymer without toxic and pollution to human bodies and environment. Therefore it is used in many fields. This paper presented comparative research results between wood surface dyeing effects by pretreatment with chitosan and untreated samples(control). Nine wood species (4 softwoods, 5 hardwoods) and 4 acid dyestuffs were tested. The dyed samples were characterized by the International Commission on Illumination (CIE 1976) L *a *b * color parameters. The surface of the chitosan treated wood samples were coated with acid aqueous solution of chitosan and then dyed with soluble acid dyestuff. The surface of the control samples were dyed directly without pretreatment. The testing results showed that the pretreated wood in same amount of acid red G were well distributed, dark and dense in color, clear to see in wood grain, non color spot macroscopically observed, lightness decreased, color saturation increased, color difference and color hue varied remarkably observed with color measuring instrument. Comparing the pretreated wood with the controls, the surface dyeing effects of the pretreated wood with different acid dyestuffs spread behaved differently, i.e. surface dyeing effects of bright color dyestuffs were better than that of dark ones.