 <p>The sql <a href="http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_func_max.asp" rel="nofollow">max</a> function returns the largest value of the selected column, in your case since your data type is a <code>nvarchar</code> the <em>largest</em> value is what is alphabetically larger, which in this case is <code>7/2/2013</code> (since the "2" is greater then the "1" in "13").</p> <p>What you need to do is basically what <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/users/328193/david">@David</a> mentioned, either chance the data type of the column or if it isn't feasible then you can cast it in your query as a <code>datetime</code></p> <p>For example</p> <pre><code>select max(cast([P_Date] as datetime)) from [BalDB].[dbo].[tab_Product] </code></pre>