The influence of the excitation power on the photoluminescence (PL) intensity of spray-deposited CulnS(2) has been Studied. Above a certain threshold power, the Ill, intensity decreases when the excitation power increases, which is a new phenomenon for these materials. The recombination model that we developed earlier to explain the transient absorption behavior of CuInS2 is modified to simulate the power-dependent PL measurements. The model includes state-to-state recombination pathways. It is found that saturation of deep defect states at 1.1 eV inhibits the recombination from the conduction band to defect states at 0.15 and 0.2 eV, when state-to-state Coupling is enabled. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.