High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) composites were fabricated using oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) as the reinforcing material. The effect of reinforcement shape on the tensile and flexural properties, that is 5 mm average length of short fiber and 325-400 μm size distribution of particulate filler have been studied. Overall, EFB short fiber-HDPE composites yield higher mechanical properties compared to EFB particulate-HDPE composites. For both types of composites, considerable improvement showed in tensile and flexural modulus. However, the tensile strength decreased with increase in EFB content. Attempts to improve these properties using alkali and two types of silane, namely γ-Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane (MTS) and vinyltriethoxysilane (VTS) were described. It is found that both types of silane enhanced the mechanical properties of composites. MTS showed better tensile strength compared to VTS. However, only marginal improvement obtained from alkali treatments. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.