The organic nonlinear optical crystals of benzilic acid were grown by the slow evaporation method using ethanol as a solvent. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD), powder XRD studies and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectral analysis were carried out to confirm the benzilic acid crystal. The optical transparency was studied by ultra violet (UV)-visible spectral analysis. Thermal properties of the grown crystals were studied by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses. The melting point of the grown crystal was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency was found to be 2 times that of KDR (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.