The invention discloses a cloth clamping device with the tensioning effect for a plaiting machine. The cloth clamping device comprises a rotary shaft (1). The rim of the end face of the rotary shaft (1) is fixedly connected with a connecting rod (2). A drive rod (3) is connected to the lower portion of the connecting rod (2). The rotary shaft (1) is further connected with multiple clamping heads (4) which are evenly distributed. A tensioning piece (5) is hinged to the end of each clamping head (4). A torsional spring (6) is connected between each tensioning piece (5) and the corresponding clamping head (4). According to the cloth clamping device, the cloth is clamped by the clamping heads and then tensioned towards the two sides by the torsional springs and the tensioning pieces, so that the cloth is clamped and tensioned, folds can be leveled through tensioning, fold generation is prevented, and the cloth clamping effect is improved; and the cloth clamping device not only can prevent fold generation but also has the beneficial effects of being good in cloth clamping effect and preventing deviation.