Herein, we report a nanocellulose hydrogel that has a packaging structure for on-demand drug release. Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-8 (ZIF-8) were grown on the surface of polydopamine (PDA) to producePDA@ZIF-8 nanoparticles. The obtained PDA@ZIF-8 nanoparticles were then incorporated into a networkof cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) to fabricate a PDA@ZIF-8/CNFs composite hydrogel. The loading ratio of thedrug tetracycline hydrochloride (TH) was 58%. A slight burst release behavior was observed at the beginning,and the composite hydrogel presented a significant pH-dependent release behavior. The drug deliverytime of the PDA@ZIF-8/CNFs composite hydrogel was 3.5 times longer than that of the PDA/CNFscomposite hydrogel. Furthermore, NIR light radiation accelerated the drug delivery rate. The drug releasemechanism was mainly driven by anomalous transport. Importantly, the novel PDA@ZIF-8/CNFs compositehydrogel was found to be biocompatible according to in vitro cytotoxicity test. Because of its uniquemultiple drug release responses, the PDA@ZIF-8/CNFs composite hydrogel may be used in future clinicalapplications as a promising drug delivery carrier.