The crystal structure of (E)-3-[(3-(Trifluoromethyl)phenylimino)-methyl]benzene-1,2-diol was determined using X-ray diffraction and the molecular structure was investigated with density functional theory (DFT). The X-ray study showed that the title compound has a strong intramolecular O-H center dot center dot center dot N hydrogen bond and 3-dimensional crystal networks are primarily determined by O-H center dot center dot center dot O intermolecular hydrogen bonds and weak van der Waals interactions. The strong O-H center dot center dot center dot N bond is evidence of the preference for the phenol-imine tautomeric form in the solid state. Optimized molecular geometry was calculated with DFT at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. The results from both experiment and theoretical calculations for the title compound are compared with each other in this study.