In this study, defatted rice bran (RB) is used to prepare an environmentally friendly adhesive through chemical modifications. The RB is mixed with distilled water with ratios of 1:5 and 1:4 to prepare Type A and Type B adhesives, respectively having pH of 6, 8 and 10. Type A adhesive is prepared by treating RB with 1% potassium permanganate and 4% poly(vinyl alcohol), whereas Type B is formulated by adding 17.3% formaldehyde and 5.7% urea to RB. Viscosity, gel time, solid content, shear strength, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is carried out, and glass transition temperature (T-g), and activation energy (E-a) are determined to evaluate the performance of the adhesives. E-a data reveal that adhesives prepared at mild alkaline (pH 8) form long-chain polymers. Gel time is higher in the fabricated adhesives than that of the commercial urea formaldehyde (UF). FTIR data suggest that functional groups of the raw RB are chemically modified, which enhances the bondability of the adhesives. Shear strength data indicates that bonding strength increases with increasing pH. Similar results are also observed for physical and mechanical properties of fabricated particleboards with the adhesives. The results demonstrate that RB-based adhesives can be used as a potential alternative to currently used UF-based resin.