We successfully fabricated wurtzite quantum-well structures will Zn0.4Cd0.6Se barrier layers and a four monolayer CdSe well layer on cubic ZnSe/GaAs(1 1 1)B substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Although the cubic CdSc well layer grew on the cubic ZnSe/GaAs(1 1 1)B substrate, the wurtzite CdSe well layer grew on the wurtzite-Zn0.4Cd0.6Se/cubic-ZnSe/GaAs(1 1 1)B structure. The CdSe well layer was compressed in the (0 0 0 1) plane and dilated to the [0 0 0 1] direction judging from the X-ray diffraction measurement. Weak orange photoluminescence was observed in this quantum-well structure. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.