Ternary polycrystalline Zn1-xCdxO semiconductor films with cadmium content x ranging from 0 to 0.23 were obtained on quartz substrate by pulse laser deposited (PLD) technique. X-ray diffraction measurement revealed that all the films were single phase of wurtzite structure grown on c-axis orientation with its c-axis lattice constant increasing as the Cd content x increasing. Atomic force microscopy observation revealed that the grain size of Zn1-xCdxO films decreases continuously as the Cd content x increases. Both photoluminescence and optical measurements showed that the band gap decreases from 3.27 to 2.78 eV with increasing the Cd content x. The increase in Cd content x also leads to the broadening of the emission peak. The resistivity of Zn1-xCdxO films decreases evidently for higher values of Cd content x. The shift of PL emission to visible light as well as the decrease of resistivity makes the Zn1-xCdxO films potential candidate for optoelectronic device. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.