A novel, 100% water-soluble chalcone based chemosensing receptor {1-[3-(2-Hydroxy-phenyl)-3-oxo-propenyl]-naphthalen-2-yloxy}-acetic acid, L was synthesized and characterized. The receptor L is designed based on the chelation enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) mechanism. The chemosensing properties of L were evaluated by UV-vis and fluorescence spectrometric methods. It exhibits highly selective recognition ability towards aluminum ions in water over other metal ions. The binding stoichiometry of L- Al3+complex is 2:1 by means of Job's plot and the detection limit is 5.66 × 10- 8M.