We present spectroscopy study on cadmium selenide (CdSe) quantum dots (QDs) with different particle sizes linked to multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), so-called (CdSe-QDs/MWCNTs), in the ultraviolet and visible frequency range. Drude-Lorentz (DL) model has been used for fitting the absorption spectra for the samples under investigations. Quantitative information about the different excitonic bands and the particle sizes of CdSe-QDs were obtained from the fitting curves and their components. Furthermore, noncontact terahertz time-domain spectroscopy technique was used to compare the optical properties of the MWCNTs and CdSe-QDs/MWCNTs. Using DL model, the optical conductivities have been estimated from the optical parameters obtained from the data extracted from the differential complex terahertz analysis in the frequency range of 0.06-3 THz. The results illustrate that the optical conductivity of MWCNTs is smaller compared to the CdSe-QDs/MWCNTs due to the increased number of free electrons transferred from CdSe QDs and the availability of mobile carriers. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.