The coating of a nonwoven textile by polyelectrolyte multilayer film (PEM) issued from cationic and anionic β-cyclodextrin (βCD) polyelectrolytes according to the layer-by-layer (LbL) technique was successfully attempted. The tert-butyl benzoic acid (TBBA) was used as drug model to evaluate the loading capacity and sustained release properties of this PEM system. The build-up of the multilayer assembly was monitored in situ by optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS) on the one hand, and was assessed by gravimetry on the other hand when applied onto the textile substrate. In parallel, the complexation study of TBBA with both CD polyelectrolytes was also investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). The influence of thermal crosslinking of the multilayered coating on its stability and on TBBA release kinetics in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 37°C was studied. Finally, biological and microbiological tests were performed to investigate the cytocompatibility and the intrisic antibacterial activity of multilayer assemblies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 1408-1424, 2016.