Oriented and high-density CdS nanorod arrays were successfully grown on transparent conductive substrates by facile chemical bath deposition and hydrothermal method free from organic solvents and surfactants. The morphology, structure and phase composition of these samples were examined, and the results demonstrated that the high purity and uniform single crystal hexagonal CdS nanorod array was obtained. Further investigation revealed that chemical bath deposition time played an important role in the formation of high quality CdS nanorod array. In addition, the optical absorption spectra and photoelectrochemical properties were also studied. It was found that the CdS nanorod film demonstrated superior photoelectrochemical properties when the chemical bath deposition and hydrothermal time were 30 min and 14 h respectively, which was ascribed to the large absorption coefficient of the material and the excellent charge collection efficiency of the nanorods. These results demonstrated that the CdS nanorod film had a potential application in various nanostructured optoelectronic devices. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.