In the title compound, C18H14NO3 (+)·Cl(-)·CH3CH2OH, the dihedral angle formed by the mean planes of the quinolinium and benzene rings is 3.4 (1)°, while the carb-oxy substituent is tilted at an angle of 4.8 (1)° with respect to the benzene ring. There is a short N-H⋯O contact in the cation. In the crystal, due to the planar mol-ecular geometry, two-dimensional aggregates are formed parallel to (221) via C-H⋯O, C-H⋯Cl, O-H⋯Cl and N-H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds. Inter-layer association is accomplished by O-Hethanol⋯Cl and O-H⋯Oethanol hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking inter-actions [centroid-centroid distances vary from 3.6477 (12) to 3.8381 (11) Å]. A supra-molecular three-dimensional architecture results from a stacked arrangement of layers comprising the ionic and hydrogen-bonded components.