CdS films have been prepared on polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, and Coming 7059 substrates by R.F. magnetron sputtering technique at room temperature. A comparison of the properties of the films deposited on polymer and glass substrates was performed. In addition, the influence of the sputter power on the structural and optical properties of these films was evaluated. The XRD measurements revealed that CdS films were polycrystalline and retained the mixed structure of hexagonal wurtzite and cubic phase, regardless of substrate types. As the sputter power was increased from 75 to 150 W, the structure of CdS films was converted from the mixed of hexagonal and cubic phase to hexagonal phase. The morphology of CdS films is found to be continuous and dense. Also, the gain of CdS films is larger with increasing the sputter power. The average transmittance exceeded 80% in the visible spectrum for all films and decreases slightly with the sputter power. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.