Detailed understanding of the interaction between dyes and additives and the aggregation behavior of the dye molecules in aqueous solutions is required to develop inkjet ink for textiles. In the present study, the aggregation behavior of three acid dyes (C. I. Acid Red 88, 13, and 27) containing different number of sulfonate groups in aqueous solutions was investigated by means of visible absorption spectroscopy. As a result, the higher the solubility of the dyes in water (the larger the number of sulfonate groups in the dyes), the lower are the aggregation constants of the dyes. For all the dyes, the aggregation constants decreased with increasing temperature, indicating the exothermic process of the dye aggregation. The thermodynamic process for C. I. AcidRed 88 having one sulfonate group is less enthalpic and more entropic than that for C. I. Acid Red 13 containing two sulfonate groups. C. I. Acid Red 27 including three sulfonate groups hardly form any aggregates. To elucidate the effects of the polymer additive, the binding constants of the dyes with the water-soluble polymer, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), and the aggregation constants of the dyes in aqueous Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 268 21 5411; fax: +81 268 21 5391 E-mail address: khamada@shinshu-u.ac.jp (K. Hamada) 2 polymer solutions were also estimated. The binding constants were also influenced by the number of the sulfonate groups in the acid dyes: the larger number of sulfonate groups diminished the binding constants. The aggregation constants in the presence of PVP were smaller than those in its absence at every temperature for all the dyes. This suggests that PVP has disaggregation effects. Furthermore, PVP makes the aggregation process less enthalpic with a greater entropic change. Thus, the aggregation process of the dyes in the polymer solutions is thermodynamically different from that in water, reflecting the interactions between the dyes and the polymer.