We make use of two different methodologies to study the transition probabilities in a molecular anharmonic system in the presence of an external perturbation. For the first method, we use a series expansion of the displacement coordinate keeping up to fourth order terms; for the second method we use a deformed algebra to approximate the anharmonic Hamiltonian via a harmonic oscillator's Hamiltonian written in terms of deformed operators. We evaluate vibrational transition probabilities as a function of the collision energy and compare the results obtained with the two approaches. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.