How can I apply styling to asp.net mvc @Html.TextboxFor?

An overload of the TextBoxFor method allows you to pass an object for the HTML attributes.

@Html.TextBoxFor(p => p.Publishers[0].pub_name, new { Class="YourBackgroundClass" })

Then you can have a CSS rule such as:

.YourBackgroundClass { background:#cccccc; }

If you want to apply a style directly you can do:

@Html.TextBoxFor(p => p.Publishers[0].pub_name, new { Style="background:#cccccc;" })