We report tunable coupling between exciton and surface plasmon in a liquid crystal device consisting of metal and semiconductor nanoparticles. The underlying mechanism is based on the fact that by changing the dielectric index of liquid crystal with an external bias, the surface plasmon frequency of metal nanoparticles can be adjusted. It is therefore possible to manipulate the energy difference between exciton and surface plasmon resonance, and hence to control their coupling. To demonstrate the working principle proposed here, Au and CdSe nanoparticles were chosen as examples. Our strategy may open up a possible route for the development of smart optoelectronic devices with tunable emission color.