The third-order nonlinear optical properties of 1,1'-methylenedipyridinium bis[tetrachloride gold(III)] were investigated by the z-scan method using CW diode laser. The experimental results led to estimation of the nonlinear optical absorption coefficient (β), the nonlinear optical refraction (n2), and third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ 3 ). Our results show that the excited-state absorption cross-sections (σex) is larger than the groundstate absorption cross-sections (σg), this suggests that the nonlinear optical absorption in the MPTC gold(III) is due to the reverse saturable absorption mechanism. Furthermore, the obtained results suggest that our material is considered as a promising candidate for future optical devices applications.