The aim of this study was to unravel the effects of emotion and sensory modality of the memory cues, as well as their potential interaction, on episodic memory retrieval. Using a non-immersive virtual reality device presenting a three-room house, participants freely and incidentally explored three unique rich episodes over three consecutive days. Episodes were constructed around the three dimensions characterizing episodic memory: What (odor, music, face), Where (the rooms: bedroom, living room, office), and in Which context (the periods of the day: daytime, nighttime or twilight). During retrieval, on the fourth day, participants were told to recognize the encoded odors, music and faces among distractors and to select both the room and the period in which they have encountered the stimulus at encoding. Participants then rated each cue in terms of pleasantness, emotional intensity and motivation (i.e., to be perceived again). Results demonstrated that episodic memory retrieval was influenced by both the sensory modality and the emotion of the memory cues, the two dimensions interacting with each other. In a modality-unspecific manner, recognition and episodic memory were improved for the most pleasant and unpleasant cues. Moreover, odors were shown to be the most powerful memory cues. EM scores were higher when odors were rated as being more motivational. Musical excerpts specifically led to high levels of recognition memory, which was favored by the emotion (emotional intensity, motivation) of the cues, but no episodic retrieval. Faces evoked the retrieval of the period of the day only, and it was not influenced by emotional evaluations of the cues. These findings highlight the power of odors to evoke complex associative memories, such as episodic memory, probably via its links with motivational processes. This work was supported by the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, and Lucile Rey was funded by the Roudnitska Foundation.