A powder electroluminescent (EL) device is a flat light-emitting device producible only via printing process. The properties of the EL device can be improved by introducing a receptive layer into the paper substrate surface, although the underlying mechanisms of this enhancement remain unknown. Herein, this mechanism was investigated in terms of dielectric loss. The tan δ of the device prepared with the receptive layer was high compared to that obtained without the receptive layer. The slopes of the current and luminance steeply increased accompanying a decrease of tan δ. Therefore, this frequency property determines the frequency properties of the EL device.