The sodium borate glasses with fixed alkali content of 10 mole % and different modifiers have been prepared. The concentration of the modifiers (PbO, Al2O3 and fly-ash) has been kept at 5 mole % and results are compared with binary sodium borate glasses. From the optical data, the optical band gap and cutoff wavelength were calculated and structural changes induced by addition of these modifiers have been investigated by UV-VIS, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD and density measurements. This work can lead to future utilization of fly-ash in glass forming materials.