The CdTe thin films electrodeposited on stainless steel substrates were annealed in air at various temperatures and time durations in order to investigate the influence of post-deposition heat treatments on the grain growth of the films. The recrystallization process at lower annealing temperature is different from that of the high-temperature annealing. The annealing at lower temperature promotes better grain growth by maintaining the preference for the (1 1 1) plane. In general the grain size increases due to annealing and the recrystallization happens in three phases. The grain growth exponent is a function of temperature and time. In the beginning of the annealing, irrespective of the annealing temperatures the grain growth obeys the ideal parabolic law and for longer annealing times it deviates from the ideal case. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.