Cadmium sulfide thin films were grown on GaAs (100) by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique from aqueous precursor solutions. The purpose of this work was to analyze and find stress dependence of CdS thin films thickness and growth mode. The stress of the thin films was characterized by means of laser interferometry, composition and morphology by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) and by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Correlation between the growth mode and the residual stress level is demonstrated. The changes from three-dimensional to two-dimensional growth of the film results in the change from tensile to compressive residual stress (from 1.39 to -2.50) x 10(9) N/m(2).