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We compared the isotropic and anisotropic diffuse models in retrieving the optical properties in fibrous samples from time-resolved reflectance measurements. A Monte Carlo model was used to simulate light propagation in a fibrous tissue consisting of aligned cylinders and spherical particles. Using the anisotropic diffuse model, the reduced scattering coefficients for both cylinder and background can be derived from a single time-resolved reflectance measured perpendicularly to the fiber direction. Using isotropic diffuse solution, these parameters can be derived from two measurements both parallel and perpendicular to the fiber direction. The simulation results also indicate that the derived optical properties are correct only for fibrous samples with small fiber diameter. For large fiber diameters, the reduced scattering coefficient of fibers needs to be corrected by fiber-size dependent factor. Overall, the isotropic diffuse model produced better results than the anisotropic model.