The title compound, morpholin-4-ium p-aminobenzoate (mPABA)(C4H10NO+,C7H6NO2-), has been synthesized for the first time by the addition of morpholine with 4-aminobenzoic acid in equi-molar ratio and good quality single crystals have been grown by solution growth technique using methanol as a solvent. The molecular structure of the compound was solved and refined by Direct Methods using SHELXS97 and full-matrix least-squares technique using SHELXL97, respectively. MPABA crystallizes in a monoclinic system with unit cell parameters, a = 5.948(5) angstrom, b = 18.033(4) angstrom, c = 10.577(5) angstrom, beta = 90.40(1)degrees and non-centrosymmetric space group Cc. The experimentally measured density and chemical compositions were found to be in good agreement with the theoretical values. The phases and functional groups of MPABA have been identified and confirmed through powder X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies, respectively. The thermal stability and decomposition details were studied through TG/DTA thermograms. The UV-visible transmission spectra were recorded for the grown crystal and its NLO characteristic was explored by powder second harmonic generation (SHG) studies. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.