A rigorous modal transmission-line theory (MTLT) based on effective dielectric method (EDM) is introduced and developed for the design of optical directional couplers with rib-type. This approach provides a rigorous numerical algorithm that takes all the possible guided components into consideration, and thus may serve as an appropriate reference to access the accuracy of such simplified methods as effective index method (EIM) and perturbation theory. Consequently, to search the optical parameters for maximum power coupling of the optical couplers, we evaluate the operating wavelength, the interval S between rib guides and the thickness t of a cladding layer.