The metastable hexagonal phase of cadmium telluride is stabilized in polycrystalline thin films by spray deposition in presence of a high DC voltage. The X-ray diffraction pattern shows peaks closely corresponding to the hexagonal phase. The CdTe films are grown in the stable cubic phase if the electric field is removed. A higher value of the band gap (1.47 eV) of the films deposited in presence of electric field compared to that (1.43 eV) for the films deposited in the absence of the electric field supports the formation of hexagonal regions. The AFM image reveals the formation of rod-shaped particles for the films deposited in the presence of electric field that contribute to the stabilization of hexagonal phase and randomly distributed spherical particles in the absence of electric field. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.