In the present work emission and absorption spectroscopy have been used to determine the plasma parameters of neon in a hollow cathode discharge lamp. The excitation temperature is determined using the intensity ratio method and Boltzmann’s plot method whereas the electron density is determined from the Stark broadening of the spectral lines. The behavior of the optogalvanic signal as a function of laser energy has been studied for three transitions from the 2p53s [1/2]2 metastable state following ΔJ=ΔK=0, ±1 dipole selection rules. The saturation technique has been used to measure the photoionization cross section from three intermediate states 2p53p′ [1/2]1, 2p53p′ [3/2]2 and 2p53p [5/2]3 up to the 2p5 2P1/2 ionization threshold.