The triethylamine capped lead sulphide (PbS) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by simple wet chemical method. The synthesized product has been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis spectrophotometry, FTIR spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence studies. The size of the PbS nanoparticles was determined from AFM, TEM, XRD and from these studies it is found that the size of the particles of the order of 10-15 nm. Significant "blue shift" from bulk material was observed on the PbS nanoparticles using UV-vis and photoluminescence spectrum. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.