In this work we discovered the potential-triggered adsorption of the thioglycerol stabilized CdSe nanoparticles on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE), which induced the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) of the nanoparticles coreacted with triethylamine. The increasing ECL emission was controlled by the applied potential of the electric field, with an optimized potential of +1.0 V. The adsorption event of the nanoparticles on the GCE was quantitatively identified by the stripping voltammetric analysis of Cd2+ ions, etc. The ECL emission was also found to be notably enhanced after the removal of the interference from the dissolved oxygen. These results would be helpful to make the full understanding of the ECL processes by the CdSe nanoparticles-tertiary amines system and promote the design of the high-sensitive bioelectronic sensors. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.