Cd doped ZnO films have been grown on (11 - 20) (a-plane) and (01 - 12) (r-plane) sapphire substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. A maximum cadmium incorporation of 8.5% and 11.2% has been, respectively, determined for films deposited on a- and r-plane sapphire. The optical transmission spectra and energy band-gap equation established by Makino et al. were used to estimate the cadmium mole fraction in layer. Structural, morphological and optical properties of these films were examined using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and room and low temperature photoluminescence (Pl) as Cd incorporation and employed substrate. X-ray diffraction study revealed that all films had wurtzite phase but solid solution grown on a-plane sapphire are polycrystalline with a preferred orientation along the [0 0 0 1] direction and a-plane (11 - 20) film are epitaxially grown on r-plane sapphire. AFM image show significant differences between morphologies depending on orientation sapphire substrate but no significant differences on surface roughness have been found. The near band-edge photoluminescence emission shifts gradually to lower energies as Cd is incorporated and reaches 2.916 eV for the highest Cd content (11.2%) at low temperature (20 K). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.