Nonlinear absorption in four and five energy level systems have been studied with the aid of steady-state rate equation approach. We report on the tunability of saturable and reverse saturable absorption as a function of spectroscopic parameters (lifetimes and absorption cross-sections). Detailed information is given on the estimation of spectroscopic parameters in the nonlinear absorption spectroscopy. The exhaustive graphical analysis of this article can provide the brief idea about transmittance curves of the nonlinear absorption to the experimentalists. In four and five level cascade models, simultaneously saturable and reverse saturable absorption can be generated.