Hippuric acid (HA) or benzamino acetic acid is an organic nonlinear optical material. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group P2(1)2(1)2(1) with cell parameters a = 8.874 Angstrom, b = 10.577 Angstrom, c = 9.117 Angstrom It is an excellent candidate for second harmonic generation because of its high conversion efficiency. We have investigated various solvents for the growth of HA and found that, defect-free crystals of HA can be grown using acetone as the solvent. Single crystals of size 2 mm x 4 mm x 12 mm were grown using acetone as solvent by isothermal solvent evaporation technique. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.