Nanostructured cadmium sulfide (CdS) plays critical roles in electronics and optoelectronics. In this paper, we report a method to fabricate CdS nanostructure directly on CdTe film, via a thermal annealing method in H2S/N-2 mixed gas flow at a relatively low temperature (450 degrees C). The microstructure and optical properties of CdS nanostructure are investigated by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman, and photoluminescence. The morphology of CdS nanostructure, evolving from nanowires to nanosheets, can be controlled by the thickness of Au film deposited on the CdTe film. And CdS nanostructures are single crystalline with the hexagonal wurtzite structure. Raman spectroscopy under varying the excitation wavelengths confirm that synthesized CdS-CdTe films contain two layers, i.e., CdS nanostructure (top) and CdTe layer (bottom). The change of morphology modifies its luminescence properties. Obviously, through simply thermal annealing in H2S/N-2 mixed gas, fabricating CdS nanostructure on CdTe film can open up the new possibility for obtaining high efficient CdTe solar cell. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.