Potassium hydrogen phthalate single crystals have been grown by conventional and Sankaranarayanan-Ramasamy method. Dye inclusion crystals have attracted researchers in the context of crystal growth for applications in solid state lasers. The effect of crystal violet as dopant on the characteristic properties of KAP crystal was studied. Thermal stability of the crystals is tested using TG-DTA. There is only one endothermic peak which indicates the decomposition point. The optical transparency of the crystals was identified from the UV vis spectrum. The mechanical strength of the crystals has been measured by Vickers micro hardness. The dielectric, piezoelectric and luminescence study is carried out for both pure and dye doped KAP crystals. The photoluminescence spectrum of the KAP induced by the dye-doping reveals an emission band peaking at 595 nm. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.