Antimicrobial packaging is an active system used to prevent the development of surface microflora, obtained by adding active agents into the packaging film. The active packaging systems that can extend the shelf life and food safety of products by antimicrobial protection gained interest. The aim of this paper was to obtain modified films based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), by adding carvacrol, nutmeg and oregano essential oils, respectively and characterize them by evaluating the tensile strength, the elongation at break and the antimicrobial activity. Moreover, the wettability of the PVA modified with carvacrol onto three types of cheese was also determined. The results have showed that the tensile strength and the elongation at break decrease as the essential oil concentration rises up to 0.75% (mass percentage). No microbial cultures developed at the contact between the film and the culture medium showing that no microorganisms would develop even at the contact of the film with food. The wettability results demonstrated that PVA modified with carvacrol 0.25 % and 0.50 %, respectively are appropriate for the storage of cheese with different moisture and fat content.