Recently ternary semiconductor nanostructured composite materials have attracted the interest of researchers because of their photovoltaic applications. Thin films of (NiS)(x)(CdS)((1-x)) with variable composition (x = 1-0) had been deposited onto glass substrates by the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method. As grown and annealed films were characterised by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and EDAX to investigate structural and morphological properties. The (NiS)(x)(CdS)((1-x)) films were polycrystalline in nature having mixed phase of rhombohedral and hexagonal crystal structure due to NiS and CdS respectively. The optical and electrical properties of (NiS)(x)(CdS)((1-x)) thin films were studied to determine compsition dependent bandgap, activation energy and photconductivity. The bandgap and activation energy of annealed (NiS)(x)(CdS)((1-x)) film decrease with improvement in photosensitive nature. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.