Cadmium ferrite (CdFe2O4) was synthesized by simple combustion method and characterized by structural (XRD, SEM, EDS, and FFIR), magnetic (VSM) and nonlinear optical (Z-Scan) studies. Powder Xray diffraction confirms the formation of cubic phase of CdFe2O4 with the cell constant a = 8.692 angstrom and a = 8.698 angstrom for the samples annealed at 500 degrees C and 800 degrees C respectively. The average crystallite size was found to increase with an increase in annealing temperature. In the IR spectra of spinel ferrites, the two major absorption bands v(1) (553.47, 549.61 cm(-1)) and v(2) (410.75, 424.26 cm(-1)) corresponds to the vibration of tetrahedral and octahedral sites of CdFe2O4. VSM studies shows that material is antiferromagnetic in nature, when heated at higher temperature. Optical nonlinearity of the samples was studied by open aperture Z-scan technique using Q-switched Nd:YAG (532 nm, 5 ns, 10 Hz) laser. The material possesses reverse saturable absorption and can be ascribed due to two photon absorption process. Also the materials exhibit optical limiting behavior with onset limiting value of 4.45 x 10(12) W/m(2), 3.59 x 10(12) W/m(2) for the samples annealed at 500 degrees C and 800 degrees C respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.