ZnCdSe/ZnMgSe and ZnSe/ZnMgBeSe distributed Bragg reflectors have been grown on ZnSe (1 0 0) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Optical and structural properties were investigated. A calculation was applied to the design of II-VI DBRs on ZnSe substrates. The comparison of theoretical and experimental reflectivity spectra proposes that the discrepancy of maximum reflectance is related to the heterointerface roughness in the non-pseudomorphic system. For the ZnCdSe/ZnMESe system, DBRs contained 10.5 and 20 stacks of alternated quarter-wavelength layers were obtained. The maximum reflectance was around 80% at 560 nm for 20 pairs of Zn0.86Cd0.14Se/Zn0.79Mg0.21Se. The ZnSe/ZnMgBeSe DBR structures show the abrupt heterointerface and good smoothness of surface. The 12 pairs of ZnSe/Zn0.72Mg0.21 Be0.07Se quarter-wavelength layers were deposited and maximum reflectance was at 605 nm. The peak position and reflectance correlate well with theoretical prediction.