Structural, optical and emission characteristics of the physical vapor deposited (PVD) ZnS films were investigated. Refined patterns of x-ray diffractogram (XRD) revealed that the grown films have zinc blende (ZB) structure with preferential orientation along (111) plane. Optical spectrograph was analyzed to derive various optical parameters, including optical band gap, which assess the device suitability of grown films. Raman spectra, fitted with Lorentzian peak, provided insight on frequency shift as an effect of elastic and thermal strains. Intensified peaks in photoluminescence spectra reflected observable recombination process due to larger band gap and assisted in study of defect-states in the grown films. In brief, the paper reports on influence of thickness and post deposition annealing on film characteristics analyzed through spectroscopic techniques.