The nanocluster-CdO film was successfully synthesized by sol-gel method using cadmium acetate and 2-metoxyethanol as starting materials and monoethanolamine as a stabilizer. The structural properties of the CdO film were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM results indicate that the CdO film is consisted of nanoclusters with grain size of 75-85 nm. The optical band gap E-g of nanocluster-CdO film was found to be 2.27 eV. The heterostructure, formed from two semiconductor layers having different optical band gaps, p-Si/n-CdO is prepared as a solar cell device. The electrical properties of the device were characterized by current-voltage and capacitance-conductance-voltage methods. The photovoltaic properties of p-Si/n-CdO device have been investigated. The p-Si/n-CdO heterojunction solar cell shows the best values of V-oc = 0.41 and J(sc) = 2.19mA/cm(2) under AM1.5 illumination. It is evaluated that this work is useful as a basis for the search of nanomaterial CdO and more competitive p-Si/n-CdO based solar cells, despite the fact that V-oc and J(sc) are lower than those reported in the literature. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.