The loss of the sulfur cathode material through dissolution of the polysulfide into electrolyte causes a significant capacity reduction of the lithium-sulfur cell during the charge-discharge reaction, thereby debilitating the electrochemical performance of the cell. We addressed this problem by using a chemical and physical approach called reduction of polysulfide dissolution through direct coating functional inorganic (graphene oxide) or organic layer (polyethylene oxide) on electrode, since the deposition of external functional layer can chemically interact with polysulfide and physically prevent the leakage of lithium polysulfide out of the electrode. Through this approach, we obtained a composite electrode for a lithium-sulfur battery (sulfur: 60%) coated with uniform and thin external functional layers where the thin external layer was coated on the electrode by solution coating and drying by a subsequent heat treatment at low temperature (~80°C). The external functional layer, such as inorganic or organic layer, not only alleviates the dissolution of the polysulfide electrolyte during the charging/discharging through physical layer formation, but also makes a chemical interaction between the polysulfide and the functional layer. As-formed lithium-sulfur battery exhibits stable cycling electrochemical performance during charging and discharging at a reversible capacity of 700~1187 mAh/g at 0.1 C (1 C = 1675 mA/g) for 30 cycles or more.