Dyeing assistant composition for cellulose fibers

In a method for dyeing cellulosic fibers in an aqueous dyeing bath, the improvement comprising said aqueous dyeing bath consisting essentially of a dye for dyeing said cellulosic fibers, at least one alkali inorganic salt, from 0.04 to 10 g per liter of a dyeing assistant composition consisting essentially of (a) a polymer or copolymer of maleic acid, acrylic acid, or a salt thereof selected from the group consisting of polysodium acrylate, polyammonium acrylate, polysodium maleate and sodium salt of maleic acid/acrylic acid copolymer and (b) a sulfonate of a polycyclic aromatic compound condensate with an aliphatic aldehyde selected from the group consisting of sodium naphthalenesulfonate/formalin condensate and ammonium naphthalenesulfonate/formalin condensate, wherein the weight ratio of (a)/(b) ranges from 90/10 to 10/90 and said polymer or copolymer has a number-average molecular weight of 1,000 to 8,000, and water.