The semiorganic nonlinear optical material, bisthiourea cadmium chloride (BTCC), has been synthesized. Water was found to be the best solvent for single-crystal growth. Single crystals of BTCC were grown by slow evaporation of saturated aqueous solutions at 30degreesC. The effect of EDTA on the growth of BTCC crystal has been investigated. The grown crystals have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, FT-NMR and UV-Vis spectra. The microhardness test was carried out on the (100) plane and a load-dependent hardness was observed. The second harmonic generation has been confirmed by the Kurtz powder test. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.