An aqueous synthetic route has been developed for the preparation of mercaptosuccinic acid (MSA)-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) using TeO2 as tellurium source and sodium borohydride as reductant.The size and the emission color of CdTe QDs can be tuned by varying the reflux time.The obtained QDs were characterized by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy,X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM).The results show that the CdTe QDs were of zinc-blende crystal structure in a sphere-like shape.