Thin film solar cells have been prepared and investigated by using indium‐doped n‐CdSe in conjunction with p‐ZnTe. The films are prepared on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates by the thermal evaporation. Thin film layers have been deposited without breaking vacuum by utilizing a mask rotating system. Silver has been used as a stimulator for bringing improvement in the crystallinity and electrical behaviour of ZnTe thin films. Indium is used for obtaining the back ohmic contacts. The solar cells thus produced have been characterized by I–V‐, C–V‐, and spectral response measurements. The maximum open circuit voltage, the short circuit current density, and the efficiency are obtained as 415 mV, 11.60 mA cm⁻² and 1.86%, respectively under 100 mW cm⁻² input optical power. The diffusion potential and depletion width are found to be 1.42 eV and 21 nm, respectively.