Tin sulfide (SnS) is one of the most promising materials for photovoltaics. Here we report on the preparation as well as chemical, structural and physical characterization of the Mo/p-SnS/n-CdS/ZnO heterojunctions. The SnS thin films were grown by hot wall deposition method on the Mo-coated glass substrates at 270-350 degrees C. The crystal structure and elemental composition were examined by X-ray diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy methods. The CdS buffer layers were deposited onto the SnS films by chemical bath deposition. The ZnO window layers were deposited by a two step radio frequency magnetron sputtering, resulting in a ZnO bilayer structure: the first layer consists of undoped i-ZnO and the second of Al-doped n-ZnO. The best junctions have an open circuit voltage of 132 mV, a short circuit current density of 3.6 mA/cm(2), a fill-factor of 0.29 and efficiency up to 0.5%. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.