The electrochemical behaviour of cadmium in 1 M NaOH solution was studied. Different electrochemical methods such as potentiodynamic measurements, polarization techniques and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were used. During the course of polarization, several characteristic features were observed, including prepassivation and a relatively wide passive range extending over 1.4 V. Equivalent circuit models for the electrode-electrolyte interface under different applied potentials were proposed. The impedance data measured at steady state were fitted to calculated data according to proposed equivalent circuits. The relevance of the proposed equivalent circuits to the different phenomena occurring at the electrode-solution interface was discussed. The passive film formed on Cd is composed of two layers: a barrier layer in contact with metal and a deposit on the barrier layer. The barrier layer appears to form directly from the metal through a solid state reaction, rather than by a dissolution-precipitation mechanism. For an applied potential >+0.7 V the relative passive film thickness and resistance decrease to lower values indicating transpassive dissolution at this potential.