The recent interest for nanocrystalline ferroelectric materials is due to their potential applications in nonvolatile ferroelectric random access memory (NvFeRAM) systems. The present work is focused on the chemical-solution synthesis and characterization of bare and rare earth (Ce, Er or Pr)-doped Bi 4Ti 3O 12 (BIT) nanocystalline thin films. The atomic fraction of the dopant species, 'x' = 0.55, was selected based on our previous works. Thin films were deposited by spin coating onto Pt /Si substrates followed by their annealing in air at 750°C. XRD analyses of the films revealed the formation of well-crystallized and nanostructures layered perovskite (Aurivillius-type). The average crystal size was estimated to be between 20-40 nm using the Debye-Scherrer's equation for the (117) peak. AFM imaging confirmed those estimations. Depending on the type of dopant, capacitors fabricated with rare earth-doped BIT films with Pt as top electrode exhibited different ferroelectric behaviors.