A relative performance assessment of copper tin sulfide (CTS) thin film solar cells with different phases such as, cubic, tetragonal, and orthorhombic as an absorber layer has been carried out by AMPS-1D simulation software. Based on the proposed device architecture, the effects of thickness and carrier concentration for the absorber layer as well as the back metal contact with various work function are studied in order to improve the performance of CTS solar cell. It is found that 10(18) cm(-3) and 2500-3000 nm are optimum values for carrier concentration and thickness for all the investigated CTS absorber layer phases, respectively. On the other hand, back contact metal work function of 5.28 eV, 5.67 eV and 5.71 eV are identified to be the optimal values for cubic, tetragonal, and orthorhombic phases, respectively. We have analyzed in detail the output performance of CTS thin film solar cell with respect to its fabrication, which can serve a constructive research pathway for the thin film photovoltaic industry. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.