A thermodynamic and fluorimetric study of a nonionic surfactant widely used in the biochemical field, n-octyl β-D-glucopyranoside (OBG), has been carried out in aqueous solution at 25 °C, in the absence and presence of salts containing divalent cations. For that purpose, three highly accurate experimental techniques have been used: density, speed of sound and steady-state fluorescence. A method for the simultaneous measurement of the speed of sound and the density has been set up. With this method, quantities such as the apparent molar volume Vφ and the apparent molar isoentropic compressibility Ks,φ of the OBG, in the binary system (OBG/water) as well as in the ternary system (OBG/salt/water), have been determined. The corresponding hydration numbers nh of the monomers, either isolated or in the micellar form, have also been evaluated. The speed of sound data permit also to obtain the critical micellar concentration, cmc, of OBG aggregates, which, together with the fluorescence results, provides the aggregation number N of the micelles. Furthermore, the fluorescence data afford interesting information regarding the micropolarity of the micellar environment. With all this information, an exhaustive analysis of the hydration and micellization processes of OBG and of the effect of salts containing divalent cations, in particular Ca 2+ , on these processes has been carried out, with special emphasis on the solute-solvent and solute-solute interactions.