We have successfully synthesized Sn1-xNixO2 (0.05 x 0.15) solid solutions in order to study their structural, optical, and magnetic properties at different Ni concentrations. X-ray diffraction showed monophasic and crystalline tetragonal structure. The shifting of peaks toward higher angle is attributed to the incorporation of Ni2+ ions in SnO2 host lattice. Particle growth restrained upon Ni-doping and found to be in the range of 8-12 nm. Ni-doped SnO2 nanoparticles show blue shift in band gap studies, which is found to be in the range of 3.9-4.1 eV. High surface areas have been achieved for these solid solutions, which come out to be 130, 200, 457, 497, and 680 m(2)/g, respectively. The solid solutions exhibit paramagnetic behavior along with antiferromagnetic exchange coupling.