A beater saturation process for forming a nonwoven wet laid composite is provided which comprises the following steps:(I) providing an aqueous dispersion comprising:(a) 10 to 95% by weight of a water-dispersible, but water-insoluble fiber;(b) 0 to 80% by weight of a finely divided, substantially water-insoluble, non-fibrous, inorganic filler;(c) 5 to 50% by weight of an anionically charged emulsion polymer comprising 70 to 90% by weight of a vinyl ester of an alkanoic acid; 10 to 30% by weight ethylene, 0 to 70% by weight of a C.sub.2 -C.sub.8 alkyl acrylate, and 0 to 4% by weight of an anionic functional monomer,(II) colloidally destabilizing the resulting mixture to form a fibrous agglomerate in aqueous suspension;(III) distributing and draining the aqueous suspension on a porous substrate such as a wire to form a wet web; and(IV) drying the web.