On thermal decomposition barium bis(citrato)oxotitanate (IV) citrate heptahydrate produces stoichiometric (\mathrm{BaTiO}{3}) fine powders at about (650^{\circ} \mathrm{C}). Thermal decomposition of the precursor proceeds through three major stages, viz. (i) dehydration, (ii) decomposition of the citrate to form an oxycarbonate intermediate (\mathrm{Ba}{2} \mathrm{Ti}{2} \mathrm{O}{5} \mathrm{CO}{3}), and (iii) decomposition of the intermediate carbonate to form (\mathrm{BaTiO}{3}). Spectroscopic and thermoanalytical techniques are presently employed to characterize the precursor and the intermediates isolated at various stages. As-prepared (\mathrm{BaTiO}{3}) is a mixture of cubic and tetragonal phases. The primary particle size of the powder is on the order of (100 \mathrm{~nm}), as revealed by the TEM technique. Calcining the powders above (800^{\circ} \mathrm{C}) results in the formation of complete tetragonal phase with improved crystallinity. The resultant powders are sinter active to give dense monophasic ceramic compacts having densities in the range (95-99 %) of the theoretical value. Depending on the processing conditions, the dielectric constant (\left(\varepsilon{\mathrm{r}}\right)) varies from 1600 to 3000 at (1 \mathrm{kHz}), while the dielectric loss, (\tan \delta), ranges from 0.003 to 0.009 at (300 \mathrm{~K}). 1994 Academic Press, Inc.