This study focuses on the spectrofluorimetric behaviour of a pharmaceutically and analytically important molecule 1-naphthoic acid in the presence of various surfactant solutions. Micellar solubilization is a powerful alternative for dissolving hydrophobic compounds in aqueous environment. Fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy are the two techniques used to monitor the micellar solubilization studies of 1-naphthoic acid. The influence of surfactant, concentration and working experimental conditions on the fluorescence spectra of 1-naphthoic acid is thoroughly evaluated and discussed. The increase in fluorescence intensity in micellar media can be attributed to the increase in quantum efficiency suggests that the suspended hydrophobic 1-naphthoic acid molecules have been solubilized. The solubilizing action has been supplemented and confirmed by few theoretically calculated spectral parameters like, empirical fluorescence coefficient (kf), quantum yield ( f f ), molar extinction coefficient (ε) and Stokes’ shift values.