CdSe films have been pulse electrodeposited on evaporated gold substrates with different duty cycles. The deposition of nanocrystalline films was carried out at 100degreesC for 10 min with precursors of CdSO4, SeO2 and H2SO4. TEM studies indicated a crystal size in the range 10-50 nm depending upon the duty cycle. The size of the nanoparticle could be controlled by the pulse parameters. Variation of grain size and band gap with duty cycle are in close agreement with the results reported earlier for the films prepared by electrodeposition and chemical bath deposition. Luminescence studies indicated room temperature emission in the wavelength range 520-410 nm depending on the duty cycle, the excitation wavelength was 570 nm. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.