Optical anisotropy in monolayer- and bilayer-MoS2 was investigated by polarization resolved photoluminescence measurements. The photoluminescence of monolayer-MoS2 is found to be partially polarized at 4.2 K and maintains this polarization characteristic up to room temperature, while the photoluminescence of bilayer-MoS2 shows no obvious polarization. This polarization anisotropy is due to strain effects at the interface between the MoS2 layer and the SiO2 substrate, causing symmetry breaking of the MoS2 charge distribution. Calculations using density functional theory of the electron density distribution of the monolayer- and bilayer-MoS2 in the in-plane direction are also presented, giving support to our qualitative analysis. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.