Effect of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on electro-optical performance of a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) has been studied. Voltage dependent spontaneous polarization and response time measurement has been made for the pure and SWCNT doped FLC system. Dielectric measurement has also been performed to understand the existing interaction between SWCNTs and FLC molecules. The results have shown increase in the value of spontaneous polarization and relative permittivity with slight slower response for the doped system. The observed properties of doped system revealed that the SWCNTs can perform well with FLC at low applied electric field to enhance the performance of LC devices. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.