Herein we have investigated the dealings between amphiphilic antidepressant drug amitriptyline hydrochloride (AMT) and gelatin interaction using different proposed techniques. AMT is used for the treatment of mental/mood problems such as depression. Gelatin interacts with this drug alike fashions to the interaction of polymers and surfactants i.e., critical aggregation concentration (cac) and polymer saturation point (psp) were together achieved significantly. AMT and gelatin interaction starts due to the highly surface active complex formation as disclosed by decreasing of surface tension of gelatin solution by adding of AMT. It was uncovered from results that cac decreases on increasing the gelatin concentrations, whereas psp increases which is a sign of the attraction between AMT and gelatin. Thermodynamic parameters were also evaluated and discussed in detail. Fluorescence measurements were used to find the values of average aggregation numbers (N-agg) and various other parameters like Stern-Volmer constant (K-sv) and micropolarity. The nuclear magnetic resonance (H-1 NMR) data suggested that AMT interacts with gelatin by the means of hydrophobic interaction. The H-1 NMR experiments explain that the extent of chemical shifts (delta) and line width (lw) increases with the increase in gelatin concentration. Secondary structure of gelatin was also examined via circular dichroism (CD) technique at different concentration of AMT. CD results confirmed that with increasing drug concentration the random coil portion of gelatin enhances. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) provided clear pictures of (drug + gelatin) interaction. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.