Pb-free ferroelectric $(Na_{0.5}Bi_{0.5})TiO_3$ (NBT) thin films were prepared by a modified sol-gel process. Their structural, dielectric and pyroelectric properties were investigated as a function of the excess Na/Bi ratio and the annealing temperature. In the case of thin films containing no excess Na and Bi, only partial amounts of the perovskite NBT were crystallized, where the films consisted mainly of the pyrochlore phase of $Bi_2Ti_2O_7$ for annealing conditions of $600{sim}800^{circ}C$. With increasing excess Na/Bi ratio, the proportion of the perovskite phase effectively increased due to the compensation of the volatile Na and Bi components. For a Na/Bi ratio of 2.0, the thin film with single NBT perovskite phase was obtained within XRD detection limit after annealing at $700^{circ}C$ for 10 min and it showed the excellent dielectric properties, ${varepsilon}r$ of ~550 and tan ${delta}$ of 0.03. While these properties were degraded for Na/Bi ratio of 2.5 despite the existence of pure perovskite phase. The NBT thin film with Na/Bi ratio of 2.0 are also promising candidates for applications requiring pyroelectric devices because it was found to have pyroelectric coefficients of $1.3{sim}7nC/cm^2K$ in the temperature range of $30{sim}100^{circ}C$.