Display omitted •Successful synthesis of GO-PANI via in situ chemical oxidative polymerization.•Water processable electrode fabrication of GO-PANI composite using Na-carboxy methylcellulose (CMC) as binder.•GO-PANI composite fabricated electrode using CMC exhibits superior electrochemical performance.•A high specific capacitance of 1721 F g−1 was observed for GO-PANI composite with 69.8% retention of capacitance even after 1000 voltammetric cycles at 20 mV s−1. The behaviour of gold electrode modified with polyaniline/graphene oxide composites (PGO) was studied for electrochemical and charge storage properties in aqueous acidic media. The surface of gold electrode was modified with aqueous slurry of PGO by using Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as binder. The intercalation of polyaniline in the GO layers, synthesized by in situ polymerization was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical behaviour and charge storing properties were investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge discharge (GCD) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A high specific capacitance of 1721 F g−1 was obtained for PGO with 69.8% retention of capacitance even after 1000 voltammetric cycles in the potential range of 0–0.9 V at 20 mV s−1. EIS indicated low charge transfer resistance (Rct) and solution resistance (Rs) values of 0.51 Ω and 0.07 Ω, respectively. This good performance of PGO coated electrode is attributed to the use of CMC binder which generate a high electrode/ electrolyte contact area and short path lengths for electronic transport and electrolyte ion.