The magnetization-induced second harmonic generation (MSHG) in the sputtered and epitaxial-grown Co thin films was studied. The magnetic contrast of the MSHG intensity could be clearly distinguished for the cobalt films prepared by both the methods, but the signal measured in air for sputtered films was not smoother than that for the in-situ measurement of epitaxial films. Compared with the magneto-optical Kerr effect, the MSHG shows some new behaviour indicating that more information could be obtained if these two methods are combined. The MSHG reveals a giant nonlinear Kerr rotation in orders of magnitude larger than its linear one.