This communication reports the effect of building matrices and nano clay platelets on the aggregation pattern of a water soluble cationic fluorescent dye Crystal Violet (CV) in Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) Films. When stearic acid (SA) was used as a building matrix, pressure induced changes in metachromasy was observed in the SA-CV complex LB films with a characteristic J-band formed at the longer wavelength side. On the other hand, clay incorporated hybrid LB films showed high degree of control over H-dimeric band. Isotherm characteristics, Brewster Angle Microscopic (BAM) images, UV-vis absorption and fluorescence characteristic studies were employed to investigate this result. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.