A composite of polyaniline (PANI) and cadmium sulfide nanoparticles (CdS NPs) has been synthesized electrochemically, which has further been used for the fabrication of photovoltaic cell. The composite (PCdS) has been characterized for its optical and electrochemical behavior. The efficacy of this composite for being used in photovoltaic cell has been studied by measuring its photo-electrochemical and photovoltaic response. The composite based device showed open circuit voltage (V-oc) of 0.332 V and short circuit current (I-sc) of 284 mu A under an illumination of the 590 nm yellow incandescent light bulb having an intensity of 5.3 mW cm(-2). The efficiency and fill factor for our proposed solar cell were 0.48% and 27% respectively. Photo-electrochemical response showed excellent photon conversion behavior with respect to light intensity, thus confirming flow of electrons through external load during illumination of the cell. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.