ABSTRACTCurcumin is non-fluorescent in aqueous media; however, in the vicinity of hydrophobic surface it fluoresces. This property is used to assess the use of curcumin as a surface hydrophobic probe. The surface hydrophobicity of proteins was measured by calculating the binding affinity and surface hydrophobicity index value. Surface hydrophobicity of bovine serum albumin, β-lactoglobulin, soy lipoxygenase-1, ovalbumin, and lysozyme is in the following order: bovine serum albumin > β-lactoglobulin > soy lipoxygenase-1 > ovalbumin > lysozyme. The binding affinities of curcumin decreased with the decrease in surface hydrophobicity of proteins. The orders of surface hydrophobicity index value, determined using curcumin, show similar trend with the reported values of standard probes, viz. cis-parinaric acid and 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonate. The surface hydrophobicity index value of proteins determined using curcumin decreased in the presence of urea, suggesting the possible use of curcumin as a probe to determine the surface hydrophobicity of proteins.