In the present work, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the composition depth profiles of Bi3.15Nd0.85Ti3O12 (BNT) ferroelectric thin film, which was prepared on Pt(1 1 1)/Ti/SiO2/Si(1 0 0) substrates by chemical solution deposition (CSD). It is shown that there are three distinct regions formed in BNT film, which are surface layer, bulk film and interface layer. The surface of film is found to consist of one outermost Bi-rich region. High resolution spectra of the O 1s peak in the surface can be decomposed into two components of metallic oxide oxygen and surface adsorbed oxygen. The distribution of component elements is nearly uniform within the bulk film. In the bulk film, high resolution XPS spectra of O 1s, Bi 4f, Nd 3d, Ti 2p are in agreement with the element chemical states of the BNT system. The interfacial layer is formed through the interdiffusion between the BNT film and Pt electrode. In addition, the Ar+-ion sputtering changes lots of Bi3+ ions into Bi-0 due to weak Bi-O bond and high etching energy. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.