Solid-state dye-doped polymers are attractive alternative to the conventional liquid dye solutions. In this paper, nonlinear properties of the dye Pararosanilin has been studied. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of Pararosanilin dye in 1-butanol and dye-doped polymer film were measured by the Z-scan technique using 532 nm diode pumped Nd:Yag laser. This material exhibits negative optical nonlinearity. The dye at 0.4 mM concentration exhibited nonlinear refractive coefficient (n2 = -6.8 × 10-8 and -7.11 × 10-8 (cm2/W) in liquid and solid media, respectively), nonlinear absorption coefficient (β = -7.7 × 10-4 and -7.93 × 10-4 cm/W in liquid and solid media, respectively) and susceptibility (χ(3) = 3.38 × 10-6 and 3.53 × 10-5 esu in liquid and solid media, respectively). These results show that Pararosanilin dye has potential applications in nonlinear optics. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.