Abstract In the present work, polycrystalline (Bi 1− x Gd x ) 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 (BGNT) ceramics with low amount of rare earth ion Gd 3+ ( x = 0, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04) have been synthesized by a semi–wet technique. XRD patterns show single phase formation for all the samples with a rhombohedral structure at room temperature. FE-SEM images show decrease in grain size with Gd concentration. The temperature dependence of dielectric constant has revealed that the depolarization temperature ‘ T d ’ decreases with increasing x and the temperature ‘ T m ’ of maximum dielectric constant increases initially for x = 0.02 thereafter decreases. All the samples have shown saturated hysteresis ( P – E ) loop at room temperature. The BGNT ceramic system for composition, x = 0.02 exhibits improved piezoelectric properties and strong ferroelectricity. With increasing temperature, polarization has been found to be reduced and deformed P – E loops are observed around ‘ T d ’.