A conventional binder for powdery composite electrodes, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF), is widely used in commercial lithium-ion electrodes because of its chemical and electrochemical stability and good affinity to the electrode and electrolyte materials. However, coverage of active material surface and adhesive strength of a composite layer onto a current collector are not enough to cope with severe conditions of electrode operation such as high potential or large volume change during a charge-discharge cycle. In addition, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent to dissolve PVdF binder to prepare electrode slurry is combustible and harmful. Since there has been intensive preference for alternative water-soluble polymer to PVdF binder, we study water-soluble polymers as new binders for lithium-ion cells, being convinced that binder is critical materials to maximize the intrinsic performance of active materials and to modify the negative electrode surface including SEI to suppress undesired side-reactions at graphite electrode [1]. Recently, we extend our work on binder towards cross-linked and natural polymers for negative and positive electrodes for Li, Na, and K batteries. We will present detailed results to realize high-energy electrode performance with new binders such as polyacrylates [2-4], covalently crosslinked polyacrylates [5], branched polysaccharides [6], polyglutamates [7,8], and SBR latex [9]. We will also discuss the mechanism of better performance compared to that for conventional PVdF with characterization data and surface analyses.