An economic and pollution-free technique for electroless chemical deposition of transparent and electrically conductive sub-micron films on the surfaces of glass, ceramics, transparent polyester films, metal, and ferroelectric thin films has been developed. The technique is based on hydrolytic decomposition of metal-thiosulfate or metal-selenosulfate complexes in aqueous solutions, and has been successfully used for deposition of transparent and electroconductive copper sulfide and copper selenide thin films of a variable composition. The basic optical and electrical characteristics of the as-deposited and annealed films are also reported.