(57) A fabric softening composition comprises an aqueous base, a cationic fabric softener and up to about 10% lanolin. The cationic softener and lanolin are preferably in the ratio of 20:1 to 1:20 and the level of cationic softener in the composition may be from 0.5% to 30%. Other conventional fabric softening composition ingredients may be present. The lanolin may be replaced by a lanolinlike material such as derivatives thereof or one or more of the active constituents of lanolin either extracted therefrom or derived from other sources. The presence of lanolin in the composition improves the viscosity and performance thereof.