The presence, compatibility and biodegradability in the environment of pervasive textile materials microfibers shed during laundering or use has been increasingly recognized as an important environmental issue. Textile materials that biodegrade are greatly advantageous relative to those that are not. In this research, the influence of typical textile finishes on the persistence of cotton fibers in aquatic environment has been assessed in aerobic conditions using an RSA PF-8000 respirometer (ISO 14851) using an inoculum of activated sludge at low concentration (30 ppm of total suspended solids). The presence of the finishes alters the surface chemistry of the fibers and their biodegradation rate in aquatic environments. Fibers and fragments of the same cotton knitted fabrics (interlock) without a finish and with different finishes such as durable press, silicone softener, C6 based fluorinated (Non-PFOA) water repellent, and a dye (blue 19) were tracked and fit to kinetic biodegradation models. relative to cotton fabrics without treatments. The biodegradation of fabrics with some levels of crosslinking in the finishing treatment was more affected than other finishes. Cotton fibers with water repellent finish have the longest lag-phase (λ) in which the biodegradation is delayed initially, whereas cotton fabrics with durable press finish had the lowest degradation rate (R) and degraded the least among the samples. Despite the differences in rate, all the cotton samples reached more than 60% biodegradation in 102 days; in fact, the cotton fibers with silicone softener degraded by 90%. The biodegradation rates extents with respect to the different samples are in agreement with the observed trends of the same samples for cellulase hydrolysis and cellulase adsorption experiments (Cellulclast, a cellulase mixture from Trichoderma reesi). This indicates that the finishes decrease the adsorption of enzymes excreted by the microorganisms and the initial rates of biodegradation relative to untreated cotton but that the cellulosic material maintains its biodegradability.