Curcumin is the major phenolic diarylheptane derivative in Curcuma longa and has been reported to possess pharmacological activities. Unfortunately this compound suffers from poor bioavailability and rapid neutral-alkaline degradation. Co-crystal of curcumin is one option under exploration, motivated by the fact that a number of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) co-crystals with improved dissolution have recently been synthesized. Hence, co-crystallization technique highlights an alternative means to improve the performance of curcumin. Within our work evidences for a co-crystal was ascertained from DSC, Kofler hot stage screening and PXRD, and all confirmed a new crystal phase could have been formed between curcumin and a co-crystallizing agent, nicotinamide. We report that re-crystallization step essentially aids the purification of commercial curcumin, a herbal based actives. Otherwise the prevalence of a new crystal phase in solvent-mediated co-crystallization will be significantly reduced. Besides, phase diagram is an effective tool for the study of solubility behaviours in co-crystal system. In order to acquire related techniques, fenbufen, a poorly water soluble drug, was selected. The result showed the huge difference in solubility between fenbufen and nicotinamide lead to difficulty in the construction of phase diagram.