Small, homogenously distributed gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) in water are synthesised by liquid phase pulsed laser ablation. The UV-visible spectra of Au colloidal solutions shows strong surface plasmon resonance bands indicating the presence of Au-NPs. Homogenous attachment of the Au-NPs to the surface of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) without acid functionalization of the CNTs is achieved by adding a small amount of ethanol. X-ray diffraction shows that the Au-NPs are small face centred cubic Au crystallites. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the Au-NPs have an average diameter of 7 nm. A stable and flexible optical limiting (OL) device is fabricated by dispersing these MWCNTs in a poly vinyl alcohol matrix (PVA). The open aperture Z-scan traces of thin films containing pure MWCNTs, as well as those with attached Au-NPs in a PVA matrix shows that the samples can be used for OL applications. An increase in the OL property has been observed with increasing density of Au-NPs which is attributed to the surface plasmon absorption processes in the Au-NPs at 532 nm causing strong nonlinear scattering effect. (C) 2011 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/1.3622666] All rights reserved.