The present invention relates to gene transfer and gene therapy technology. More specifically, the invention provides compositions and methods for targeted virus delivery. The method utilizes a method of mixing the virus, which may be a recombinant virus which will express a protein of interest or a nucleic acid of interest, with a cell-targeting ligand, e.g., transferrin. The virus and ligand are mixed without crosslinkers or agents which would covalently bond the virus and ligand. This simple mixing causes less inactivation than chemically linking the ligand to the virus and therefore results in a more active therapeutic composition than obtained by methods which utilize crosslinking agents.