To investigate the modification effect of the modifier CdO on boro tellurite glass, a series of glasses with compositions (50 - x) CdO-xTeO(2)-50B(2)O(3) have been prepared by conventional melt quenching technique. Optical absorption, IR and Raman structural studies are carried out on the glass system. The optical absorption studies revealed that the cutoff wave length and refractive index increase while optical band gap (E-opt) and Urbach energy decreases with increase of CdO content. The IR and Raman studies revealed that structure of glass network consists of [TeO3]/[TeO3+1], [TeO4], [BO3], [BO4] and [Cd-Te] linkages. The compositional dependence of different physical parameters such as density, molar volume, oxygen packing density, optical basicity, have been analyzed and discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.