GaAs‐based field‐effect transistor structures have been grown on InP substrates with the InGaAs/GaAs strained‐layer superlattices and 1.5 &mgr;m GaAs layer as the buffer. The low‐temperature (4 K) photoluminescence (PL) from this GaAs buffer has been studied for the first time. Among five observable peaks, the excitonic transition at energy 1.513 eV and the impurity associated recombination at energy 1.483 eV have been identified with the aid of reflection, absorption, and temperature and excitation‐intensity dependent PL measurements. The peak at 1.504 eV, most probably due to an exciton bound to a defect, is greatly enhanced compared with that of homoepitaxially grown GaAs. The optical results show that GaAs films of good quality can be grown on InP substrate, which is consistent with device results.