The chemical deposition of PbS and ZnS on monolayers self-assembled on evaporated gold has been investigated. Time-resolved attenuated total reflection measurements have been made for the deposition kinetics of PbS particles. We are able to determine the growth rate as a function of the film thickness and can clearly distinguish between the initial nucleation regime and the crystal growth stage. The successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction technique has been used to build up highly controlled ZnS films on the self-assembled monolayers. We examined the very first steps of the film growth as well as the optical properties of the ultrathin films.