The optical properties of Malachite green (Mg) dye were examined experimentally, including absorption, optical energy gab, refractive index, dielectric constant, optical conductivity and emission spectra in various solvents. Additionally, several significant photophysical parameters were evaluated, including the extinction coefficient (ε), the energy yield of fluorescence (Ef), the length of attenuation Λ (λ), oscillator strength (f), quantum yield (Øf), fluorescence lifetime ($${\uptau }_{{\text{f}}}$$
τ
f
), decay rate radiative constant (kr), and the dipole moment (μ) in addition to absorption and emission cross-sections (σa) and (σe) respectively. Time Dependent Density function theory (TD-DFT) computations were used to generate the theoretical absorption spectra of the (Mg) compound. The energy gap (Eg), electron density, and electrostatic potential were also simulated.