Refractive indices of ternary mixtures formed by (water + ethanol + k-ethylene glycol) (when k is mono, di or tri) and (water + t-butanol + dimethyl sulfoxide) are presented over a wide range of mixture compositions. All measurements have been conducted at 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure using two light sources: one in the visible (lambda = 670 nm) and the other in the infrared (lambda = 925 nm) spectrum. The performance of several mixing rules that are commonly used in modeling optical constants are examined. We demonstrate that the refractive indices of the associated ternary mixtures can be modeled with a relative error of about 0.9% by using the thermodynamical properties of the pure components. The concentration derivatives of the refractive index are an important parameter, as they are required for different experimental techniques. These derivatives have been determined from the experimental data on refractive indices. However, applying mixing rules for calculation of the derivatives of the refractive indices with respect to concentrations does not provide satisfactory results in the case of ternary mixtures of associated liquids. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.