While efforts have been made to synthesize quaternary alloy nanostructures with high surface area for application in many fields, a detailed exploration of quinternary alloy nanostructures has not been reported until now. This work investigates the optimum crystallization parameters for reducing crystal defects in Cu2Zn1-xCdxSnS4 quinternary alloy nanostructures. Alloy nanostructures with different Zn and Cd contents were grown by a sol gel method. The analytical results confirmed a multi-phase polycrystallinity of the samples, and the variations in their energetic transitions and optical properties with Cd content were investigated. The morphology and topography of the samples were also observed. Our results are supported by several related studies in the literature. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.