Participation of a polymeric media in light-emitting processes of composite nano-CdS/polyvinyl alcohol is studied by probing different absorption-emission routes via adjustment of excitation wavelengths. It is shown that the polymeric constituent of the composite contributes chiefly to the photoluminescence excitation processes via absorption and excitation transfer to the embedded CdS nanoparticles while the composite emission occurs mostly within the nanoparticles. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.