The structural, electronic and optical properties of the LiCdN, LiCdP, LiCdAs and LiCdSb filled-tetrahedral compounds have been explored from first-principles. The calculated structural parameters are consistent with the available experimental results. Since DFT with the common LDA and GGA underestimates the band gap, we use a new developed functional able to accurately describe the electronic structure of semiconductors, namely the Tran-Blaha-modified Becke-Johnson potential. The four investigated compounds demonstrate semiconducting behavior with direct band gap ranging from about 0.32 to 1.65 eV. The charge-carrier effective masses are evaluated at the topmost valence band and at the bottommost conduction band. The evolution of the value and nature of the energy band gap under pressure effect is also investigated. The frequency-dependent complex dielectric function and some macroscopic optical constants are estimated. The microscopic origins of the structures in the optical spectra are determined in terms of the calculated energy band structures. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.