Officials said the blaze took place overnight in the Mirpur industrial district.
It comes with the issue of industrial safety in Bangladesh under intense scrutiny following the collapse of an eight-storey building late last month.
On Thursday officials confirmed that at least 892 people had died in the disaster.
Reports suggested that a police officer and the owner of the factory were amongst the eight killed in Wednesday's blaze.
They were believed to be holding a meeting in the 11-storey building, which belongs to garment exporter Tung Hai Group, when the fire broke out.
"It was a big fire but we managed to confine it on one floor," Mahbubur Rahman, operations director of Bangladesh's fire service, told news agency AFP.
The victims had suffocated after becoming overwhelmed by "toxic smoke from burnt acrylic clothing", he said.
Fire officials said it took around two hours to tame the fire.
Most of the workers had already gone home when the blaze started, reports said.
"It is not clear to us how the accident happened, but we are trying to find out the cause," Mohammad Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters news agency.
Source: BBC 5/09/2013
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