In this work, the effect of surfactant Triton X-100 (TX-100) on structural, morphological and optical properties of nanostructured CdO films has been researched. Four series of nanostructured CdO films with TX-100 concentrations of 0.25–1.0 M% of the growth solution were prepared by the Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction (SILAR) technique on glass substrates and were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, surface roughness, X-Ray diffraction and UV–Vis. Spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy exhibited that the particle thickness increased with increasing TX-100 content. Surface roughness (Ra) measurement exhibited that Ra value accordingly decreases in the presence of TX-100. From the X-Ray diffraction patterns it was calculated that the crystallite size of the films increased parallel to the particle size with increasing TX-100 content. UV results presented that the optical bandgap values of the film can be adjusted with TX-100 content where optical bandgap decreased with increasing TX-100 content in the growth bath. The results show that the amount of TX-100 in the growth bath played a significant mission in adjusting the main physical properties of the nanostructured CdO film.