Using the nondestructive near infrared (NIR) testing technology, we built NIR prediction models including four indicators of pH value, degree of polymerization (DP), K-value and alkaline reserve of paper, based on the measured values of 100 paper samples. The correlations of NIR prediction models were verified. The results show that the predicted values of pH, DP and K-value have good agreement with the measured ones, suggesting that the three indicators can be tested by NIR. However, the correlation between the predicted and the measured values of alkaline reserve is not that good, suggesting that the NIR prediction models of alkaline reserve can be used for reference, but not testing. This study indicates that the nondestructive test of precious ancient papers by NIR technology is feasible.