This study attempted to bond glass-ionomer and zinc phosphate cements to a dental ceramic with the aid of a coupling agent and appropriate surface preparation. Four luting agents were shear tested after thermocycling: a glass-ionomer cement with three titanate coupling agents, three zircoaluminate coupling agents, and a silane coupling agent; a light-activated glass-ionomer cement with a silane coupling agent; a zinc phosphate with a titanate coupling agent; and the manufacturer's resin/silane as control. The light-activated glass-ionomer cement/silane coupling agent had the highest mean strength (3.8 MPa) followed by the control (3.7 MPa) and glass-ionomer/carboxy zircoaluminate (2.4 MPa). These measures were significantly (P .05) higher than those of glass-ionomer/silane, zinc phosphate, and other lower ranking groups. Light-activated glass-ionomer cement was successfully bonded to dental ceramics. Carboxy zircoaluminate showed good results for bonding conventional glass-ionomer cement.