By simple hydrothermal method, nanorods of barium boate were successfully loaded on reduced graphene oxide sheets. Powder XRD confirms the incorporation of barium borate (2θ = 29°, (202)) along with the transition of graphene oxide (2θ = 12°, (001)) into reduced graphene oxide (2θ = 25°, (002)). In the FTIR spectra, presence of characteristic absorption peaks of rGO (1572 and 2928 cm−1) and barium borate (510, 760 and 856 cm−1) further evidences the formation of BBO:rGO nanocomposite. FESEM images potray the existence of graphene sheets as thin layers and growth of barium borate as nanorods on the sheets of reduced graphene oxide. Ground state absorption studies reveal the hypsochromic shift in the absorption maxima of the graphene layers due to reduction of graphene oxide and hypochromic shift in the absorbance intensity due to the inclusion of highly transparent barium bortae. The photoluminescence of BBO:rGO shows maximum emission in the UV region arising from the direct transitions involving the valence band and conduction band in the band gap region. Z-scan technique using CW diode pumped Nd:YAG laser (532 nm, 50 mW) exposes that both nanocomposite and individual counterpart possess saturable absorption and self-defocusing behavior. Third-order nonlinear optical coefficients of BBO:rGO nanocomposite is found to be higher than bare graphene oxide. In particular the nonlinear refractive index of nanocomposite is almost four times higher than GO which resulted in superior optical power limiting action. Strong nonlinear refraction (self-defocusing) and lower onset limiting thershold makes the BBO:rGO nanocomposite preferable candidate for laser safety devices. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.