An experimental and theoretical study based on DFT/TD-DFT approximations is presented to understand the nature of electronic excitations, reactivity, and NLO properties of reactive orange 16 dye (RO16), an azo chromophore widely used in textile and pharmacological industries. The results show that the solvent has a considerable influence on the electronic properties of the material. According to experimental results, the absorption spectrum is noticed by four intense transitions, which have been identified as π → π * states using TD-DFT calculations. However, the TD-DFT