Highly oriented CdS thin films with thicknesses greater than 1 mu m were deposited using the oscillating chemical bath deposition technique with multiple dips at 75 degrees C, and from 15 to 75 min as deposition times. Samples with different thicknesses were deposited by repeating the chemical deposition process one, two and three times. All CdS films present the alpha-greenockite hexagonal structure with (002) as the preferential orientation. Band-gap energy values ranged from 2.35 to 2.42 eV, being the smaller value for the two dip processes. Energy dispersion spectroscopy measurements show good stoichiometry of the CdS films with 4.3 at.% as the maximum Cd variation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.