Effects of the annealing temperature on structural, optical and surface properties of chemically deposited cadmium zinc sulfide (CdZnS) films were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the grown CdZnS thin films formed were polycrystalline with hexagonal structure. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies showed that the surface roughness of the CdZnS thin films was about 60-400 nm. Grain sizes of the CdZnS thin films varied between 70 and 300 nm as a function of annealing temperature. The root mean square surface roughness of the selected area, particular point, average roughness profile, topographical area of roughness were measured using the reported AFM software. The band gaps of CdZnS thin films were determined from absorbance measurements in the visible range as 300 nm and 1100 nm, respectively, using Tauc theory. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.