We have investigated the epitaxial growth of Zn1-x Cd xSe epilayers and ZnSe/Zn1-x CdxSe superlattices (0≤x≤1) on (100)GaAs. Although thick epilayers of Zn 1-x CdxSe are prone to defect formation with increasing Cd content, the structural and optical characteristics improve remarkably when Zn1-x CdxSe is in the form of thin layers within ZnSe/Zn1-x CdxSe superlattices. High quality superlattices can be grown for x≤0.35. The characterization of these systems using transmission electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, reflectivity, and photoluminescence is reported.