This work demonstrates the improvement of the molecular beam epitaxial growth of zinc-blende CdSe on (0 0 1) GaAs substrate with a large lattice mismatch by introducing a small amount of Te atoms. Exposing the growing surface to Te atoms changes the reflection high-energy electron diffraction pattern from spotty to streaky together with (2 x 1) surface reconstruction, and greatly reduces the full width at half maximum of the X-ray rocking curve and increases the integral intensity of room-temperature photoluminescence by a factor of about nine. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.