Santalum album also known as East Indian sandalwood is an internationally renounced timber species because of its scented heartwood and essential oil. Propagation through the seed is the cheapest and easiest method to propagate this species. The present investigation focuses on influence of various organic and inorganic seed pretreatment on germination and seedling vigour in sandal. The mature seeds of sandal were collected from Marayoor Nachivayal forest of Idukki district, Kerala. The seeds were subjected to 16 pretreatments, which included soaking in tap and boiling water, acid scarification and soaking in GA3, cow dung slurry and cow urine in different concentration and duration. The results of the study indicated that the highest germination percentage (74.33) was observed in T8 (Soaking of seeds in 500 mg l-1 GA3 for 24 h) and lowest (44.33) in T5 (Soaking of seeds in H2SO4 for 5 minutes). Acid scarification and boiling water treatments decreased the germination percentage of the seeds than control. With regards to germination energy, soaking the seeds in 1000 mg l-1 GA3 for 24 hours (T9) recorded the highest germination energy (44.67%) followed by seeds soaked in 500 mg l-1 GA3 (T8). Soaking in cow dung slurry for 24 hours (T10) also recorded comparable germination energy (38%). The treatment with GA3 produced the highest germination index of the seeds and the lowest values were recorded in H2SO4 treatments. In the present investigation, pretreatment with GA3 emerged as the best pretreatment as proven by earlier workers, but the second best treatment was soaking in cow dung slurry, especially 24 hours duration. This is a low cost pretreatment compared to GA3 and hence can be widely used by farmers in nurseries. However, the no definite pattern of influence of pretreatments visible in seedling traits observed after one month.