The cobalt sulfide (CoS) and nickel sulfide (NiS) films are fabricated on fluorine doped SnO2 (FTO) glass by a simple electrodeposition method. The addition of different amounts of ammonia to deposition solution can significantly influence the morphology of CoS and NiS films. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Tafel tests demonstrate that the CoS and NiS counter electrodes have good conductivity and electrocatalytic properties. Power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with CoS counter electrode and NiS counter electrode can attain to high values about 9.23% and 9.65%, respectively. The values are obviously higher than that of DSSC with Pt counter electrode (8.12%) under full sunlight illumination (100 mW cm(-2), AM 1.5 G). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.