Preferential oriented and uniform PbS thin filmswere deposited by a roomtemperature in-situ solution chemical reaction process, in which the lead nitrate as precursor in a formof thin solid films from lead precursor solution was used to reactwith ammoniumsulfide ethanol solution. Influence of 1-butanol addition in the lead precursor solution, Pb: Smolar ratios in the separate cationic and anionic solutions, deposition cycle numbers and annealing treatment in Ar atmosphere on structure, morphology, chemical composition and optical absorption properties of the deposited PbS filmswere investigated based on X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electronmicroscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, atomic force microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, UV-vis, near infrared ray and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements. The results showed that the deposited PbS thin films had a cubic structure and highly preferred orientation along with the plane (100). The deposition rate of single-layer was stable, about 30 nm in thickness per deposition cycle. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.