The binary compound SnS consists of elements that are nontoxic, inexpensive, and abundant in the Earth's crust. It is a p-type semiconductor with a band gap energy of 1.3 eV and an absorption coefficient of 10(4) cm(-1), and is therefore a potential candidate for use as a solar cell absorber material. In this study, SLG/Mo/SnS/CdS/ZnO:Al/Al and SLG/Mo/SnS/ZnO/ZnO:Al/Al SnS thin-film solar cells with different buffer layers were fabricated using a co-evaporation method. The dependence of the photovoltaic properties of the SnS thin-film solar cells with CdS or ZnO as the buffer layer was investigated. We demonstrate that the device with a ZnO buffer layer exhibited higher conversion efficiency and short-circuit current density compared to the device with a CdS buffer layer. (C) 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim