A chloroaluminum-phthalocyanine (AlCl-Pc) with tetra-alpha-butoxy chains (AlCl-Pc-OC4) has been synthesized and the photophysical parameters have been determined using steady-state and time-resolved absorption as well as emission spectroscopy. A luminescence from S2 excited state with long lifetime (5.71ns) is observed. A multi level model has been proposed to explain the photophysical processes after Soret-band excitation (lambdaex=355nm). The optical limiting performance for 532nm-7ns laser pulses of AlCl-Pc-OC4 has been investigated in THF solution. The sigmaex and ratio of sigmaex/sigma0 has been calculated. The good optical limiting performance is attributed to a reverse saturable absorption mechanism. It indicates that AlCl-Pc-OC4 could be promising candidates for optical limiting material.