CdTe films were deposited by thermal evaporation onto chemical bath deposited CdS (CBD-CdS) films. The composite films were subjected to rapid thermal annealing (RTA) to observe simultaneous grain growth in both the CdS and CdTe layers. The films were characterized by measuring the compositional, microstructural and photoluminescence (PL) properties. PL spectra is dominated by the characteristic peaks (similar to 1.42 eV and similar to 1.26 eV) associated with the virgin CdTe film. Additional features located at similar to 2.56 eV and similar to 1.99 eV could also be detected. The Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) peak at similar to 482 cm(-1) appeared due to the simultaneous presence of absorption peaks for CdTe stretching mode as well as Cd-S modes. Appearance of the broad peak between 1000 cm(-1) and 1165 cm(-1) may be an indication of interfacial alloying. Secondary ion mass Spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements were done to observe the compositional uniformity in the film and to measure the interfacial mixing behaviour. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.