A solvent thermal process has been developed for preparation of ultrafine powder of bismuth sulfide in ethanol at 140 degrees C through a thermal reaction between bismuth bichloride and thiourea. X-ray powder diffraction pattern (XRD) indicated that the product was orthorhombic Bi2S3 phase with cell constants a = 11.128, b = 11.264, c = 3.978 Angstrom. A transmission electron micrograph (TEM) showed that the average particle size of the powders was 500 x 30 nm with the morphology of a needle shape. LR spectroscopy confirmed that the product was of high purity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.