The growth of alkali halide has been examined on GaAs(111)A, (111)B and (001) substrates. NaCl with a misfit of 0.4% with respect to GaAs grows epitaxially on those GaAs substrates for substrate temperatures between 150°C and 250°C. In the case of growth on (001), the crystallographic axes align with those of the substrate and the grown film always has a flat surface. In the case of growth on (111), the crystallographic orientation of the grown NaCl differs by 180° between the (111)A and (111)B faces and the surface of the grown films consists of triangular pyramids with three {001} faces. From those results, a simple model for NaCl/GaAs(111) heterostructures is proposed.