In this paper, we report experimental densities, dynamic viscosities, and refractive indices and their derived properties of the ternary system (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulphate + ethanol + water) at T = 298.15 K and of its binary systems 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulphate with ethanol and with water at several temperatures T = (298.15, 313.15, 328.15) K. These physical properties have been measured over the whole composition range and at 0.1 MPa. Excess molar volumes, viscosity deviations, and excess free energy of activation for the binary systems at the abovementioned temperatures, were calculated and fitted to the Redlich-Kister equation to determine the fitting parameters and the root-mean-square deviations and for the ternary systems were calculated and fitted to Cibulka, Singh and Nagata and Sakura equations. The ternary excess properties were predicted from binary contributions using geometrical solution models. Refractive indices were measured from T = 298.15 K over the whole composition range for the binary and ternary systems. The results were used to calculate deviations in the refractive index. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.