The photo-promoted carbonylation of chloroalkanes with carbon monoxide was carried out under ambient conditions with copper and cadmium salts catalysts. The results indicated that the corresponding esters were produced with three salt catalysts, i.e.CuBr2, CuCl2 and CdI2. Among these catalysts, CdI2 was the most efficient in terms of ester yield and selectivity, particularly, 60% yield and 75% selectivity in the carbonylation of chlorocyclohexane were achieved. Furthermore, the yield and selectivity of the ester can be improved greatly by adding tri-n-butylamine in the CuBr2 and CuCl2 catalyst systems. On the other hand, the additive. As a result, we suggest that iodide ion plays an important role in the catalyst system of the cadmium salts.(C) 2007 Ying Ping Jia. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.