The properties of the excited triplet state of dicyanodihydrofullerene [C-60(CN)(2)] were determined with nanosecond laser photolysis and a picosecond/nanosecond optical limiting (OL) system. It was found that C-60(CN)(2) possessed a lower quantum yield and higher extinction coefficient of the excited triplet state, which in turn resulted in. its similar OL performance for nanosecond laser pulse compared with pristine C-60. However, C-60(CN)(2) shows a better OL performance for picosecond laser pulse, which can be understood according to a three-level model.