Using a facile synthesis route, cadmium oxide (CdO) nanofibers in the diameter range of 50-60nm have been prepared employing the electrospinning technique followed by a single-step calcination from the aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and cadmium acetate dihydrate. Electron microscopy (EM) and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique were employed to characterize the as-spun nanofibers as well as the calcined product. The specific surface area of the product was calculated to be 42.6711 m(2) g(-1). Infrared (IR) absorbance spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffractometery were conducted on the samples to study their chemical composition as well as their crystallographic structure. The study on the optical properties based on the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum demonstrated that the emission peaks of CdO nanofibers are centered at 493 and 528 nm. The direct bandgap of the CdO nanofibers was determined to be 2.51 eV. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.