0.99(Bi 0.5Na 0.5TiO 3)–0.01(SrNb 2O 6) was prepared by simple solid state reaction route. Material stabilized in rhombohedral perovskite phase with lattice constants a = 3.9060 Å, α = 89.86° and a h = 5.4852 Å, c h = 6.7335 Å for hexagonal unit cells. Density of material was found 5.52 g m/cm 3 (92.9% of theoretical one) in the sample sintered at 950 °C. The temperature dependent dielectric constant exhibits a broad peak at 538 K ( ɛ m = 2270) at 1 kHz that shows frequency dependent shifts toward higher temperature – typical relaxor behavior. Modified Curie–Weiss law was used to fit the dielectric data that exhibits almost complete diffuse phase transition characteristics. The dielectric relaxation obeys the Vogel–Fulcher relationship with the freezing temperature 412.4 K. Significant dielectric dispersion is observed in low frequency regime in both components of dielectric response and a small dielectric relaxation peak is observed. Cole–Cole plots indicate polydispersive nature of the dielectric relaxation; the relaxation distribution increases with increase in temperature.