Thin solid films of closely packed CdS nanocrystals with sizes between 1.5 and 1.8 nm have been prepared and sandwiched between indium–tin–oxide (ITO) and silver contacts. At room temperature, these CdS nanocrystals start to emit light visible to the unaided eye at a bias above 15 V. The spectral characteristics are voltage controlled and tunable between 1.8 eV and 2.8 eV with increasing bias from 20 to 40 V. The current–voltage dependence indicates hopping conductivity of the carriers injected. At high voltage the electroluminescence and photoluminescence spectra are similar showing a strong red shift of the luminescence maximum with respect to the absorption peak at 3.75 eV which we explain by an effective radiative recombination through deep traps in the interface region. Consequently, the tunability of electroluminescence is attributed to excitation of different deep traps by electron transport across neighbouring CdS nanocrystals. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.