Sulfur-zinc-cadmium (CdxZn1 − xS) thin films are deposited on glass substrates by chemical bath deposition (CBD) for their potential applications in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells. The effect of various thiourea concentrations on film properties is researched experimentally, and film properties are considerably enhanced by altering the concentration ratio of different solutions. The results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) show that the film surface has good film quality at 0.035 M thiourea concentration. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies demonstrate that the crystal structure of the films is hexagonal. The optical characterization results illustrate that the transmittance of the films exceeds 80%. And the optical band gap energy of deposited thin films is observed to be in the range from 3.01 to 3.26 eV. Experimental results illustrate that the thin film prepared by adjusting the concentration of thiourea has potential viability in the buffer layer of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells and photovoltaic devices.Graphical abstract: