Research has been undertaken to compare the effects of different types of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) on the mechanical properties of paper. Three types of MFC were produced: Enzyme MFC (low anionic charge density), Carboxymethylated MFC (high anionic charge density) and cationic MFC (high cationic charge density). The different MFCs required different retention aid strategies. The simplest retention strategy was selected to secure a high retention of MFC. Some experiments also focused on dewatering and pressability of wet webs with carboxymethylated MFC. Conventional isotropic laboratory handsheets were made using a never-dried unrefined elemental chlorine free (ECF)-bleached softwood kraft pulp. It has been shown that the evolution of the mechanical properties and scattering coefficients when plotted versus MFC content was very similar for the three types. However, Enzyme MFC gave a significantly better reinforcement effect. All three types of MFC had a similar effect on the sheet consolidation, reflected in sheet density. Evaluation of the dewatering and pressability of the wet sheets showed that if the MFC was aggregated by an appropriate retention strategy, the dewatering and pressability were not detrimental to the practical applicability of MFC.