Ternary ZnCdO thin films oriented along c-axis have been successfully deposited on p-Si (1 0 0) substrates using sol-gel spin coating route. To optimize most suitable annealing temperature for the Zn(1-x)Cd(x)O thin films; these films with selected cadmium content x=0.10 were treated at annealing temperatures from 300 degrees C up to 800 degrees C in oxygen ambient after deposition. The structural and optical properties of deposited thin films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra. The results show that the obtained films possess high crystallinity with wurtzite structure. The crystallite size, lattice parameters, lattice strain and stress in the deposited films are determined from X-ray diffraction analysis. The band gap energy increased as a function of annealing temperatures as observed from optical reflectance spectra of samples. The presence of Cd in the deposited films is confirmed by energy dispersive spectrum and it is observed that Cd re-evaporate from the lattice with annealing. The photoluminescence measurements as performed at room temperature did not exhibit any luminescence related to oxygen vacancies defects for lower annealing temperatures, as normally displayed by ZnO films. The green yellow luminescence associated to these defects was observed at higher annealing temperatures (>= 700 degrees C). Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.