A series of lanthanide nitrato complexes with N-(furfuralidene)-N¢ -isonicotinoylhydrazine (INHFF) were synthesized. These complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, conductance, magnetic moment measurements, IR, UV-visible, TGA-DTA and luminescence studies. In these complexes the hydrazone, N-(furfuralidene)-N¢-isonicotinoylhydrazine behave as a neutral bidentate ligand with the carbonyl oxygen and azomethine nitrogen as two coordinating sites. All the three nitrate ions also coordinate unidentately with seven coordination for the lanthanide (III) ions with a tentative monocapped octahedral geometry for the complexes. All the complexes have a general formula, [Ln(L)2(NO3)3] where Ln= Pr(III), Nd(III), Sm(III), Gd(III) or Tb(III) and L= N-(furfuralidene)-N¢ -isonicotinoylhydrazine. Spectroscopic determination of nephelauxetic ratio(β), covalency factor(b1/2), Sinha parameter(δ%) and covalency angular overlap parameter (η) show a weak covalent bond formation between the metal ion and the ligand in the complexes.