Cationic polymers possessing primary amine groups are inefficient in transferring nucleic acids into eukaryotic cells. With appropriate chemical modification, namely glycolylation of the amine groups of polylysine and polyallylamine, the actual number of free amino groups was decreased, hydrophilic residues were introduced, and the cytotoxicity of both polymers decreased significantly. Furthermore, in the case of polyallylamine, its ability to mediate gene transfer into cells increased by several orders of magnitude. Transfection efficiency was found to be dependent on the substitution level of amino groups and reached highest levels in the presence of lysosomotropic and/or fusogenic agents. At optimal conditions, glycolylated PAM was shown to be as efficient as the linear polyethylenimine of 22 kDa.