A non-aqueous electrolytic solution favorably employable for a lithium secondary battery employs a non-aqueous electrolytic solution which comprises a non-aqueous solvent and an electrolyte which further contains 0.001 to 0.8 weight % of a biphenyl derivative having the formula: in which each of Y1 and Y2 represents hydroxyl, alkoxy, hydrocarbyl, hydrogen, acyloxy, alkoxycarbonyloxy, alkylsulfonyloxy, or halogen, and each of p and q is an integer of 1 to 3.