Single crystals of nonlinear optical (NLO) material barium strontium borate were grown in our laboratory by employing the low-temperature solution technique for the first time. Crystals were grown upto a size of 20mm, 10mm x 1 mm. These crystals show good second-harmonic generation efficiency. Single crystals of barium rate is a promising NLO crystal which can be possibly used for fabrication of photonic devices. The grown crvstals are characterized by employing UV-visible spectroscopy. powder XRD. IR spectroscopy, microliardness and refractive index measurements. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.