Highlights The whole bamboo mere made directly into cellulose composites, which greatly reduced massive energy consumption from the mechanical pre-processing process. The wall thickness of transparent whole bamboo can reach 6.23 mm. The modified whole bamboo possesses excellent optical transmittance of about 60% at 6.23 mm, the illuminance of 1000 luminance (lux), water absorption stability (the mass change rate less than 4%), longitudinal tensile strength (46.40 MPa), and surface properties (80.2 HD). The combination of excellent transmittance, mechanical properties, surface properties, thermal performance, and electromagnetic shielding properties makes this composite attractive in areas such as transparent, energy-saving, and electromagnetic shielding buildings.