Cu2O, Cu2O-Ag nanocomposite, and Cu2O/Ag2O multilayered thin films were prepared by DC-reactive magnetron sputtering on glass substrates. After deposition, the microstructure of the films was examined using X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). An incident-photon-conversion-efficiency (IPCE) system was used to characterize the opto-electrical properties of these films. The TEM study reveals that Cu2O-Ag nanocomposite consists of Cu2O, Ag2O, and small amount of Ag phases. The coupling of the Ag2O phase with Cu2O can enhance light absorption and create more electron-hole pairs due to the small band gap of Ag2O. Furthermore, the composite band structure can cause the increased carrier density by enhancing electron-hole separation. The multilayered Cu2O/Ag2O films also show similar results to Cu2O-Ag although not as outstanding. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.