Div vertical scrollbar show

What browser are you testing in?

What DOCType have you set?

How exactly are you declaring your CSS?

Are you sure you haven't missed a ; before/after the overflow-y: scroll?

I've just tested the following in IE7 and Firefox and it works fine

<!-- Scroll bar present but disabled when less content -->
<div style="width: 200px; height: 100px; overflow-y: scroll;">
  test
</div>

<!-- Scroll bar present and enabled when more contents -->        
<div style="width: 200px; height: 100px; overflow-y: scroll;">
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
  test<br />
</div>

Have you tried overflow-y:auto ? It is not exactly what you want, as the scrollbar will appear only when needed.

Always : If you always want vertical scrollbar, use overflow-y: scroll;

jsFiddle:

<div style="overflow-y: scroll;">
......
</div>

When needed: If you only want vertical scrollbar when needed, use overflow-y: auto; (You need to specify a height in this case)

jsFiddle:

<div style="overflow-y: auto; height:150px; ">
....
</div>