Abstract. Fine-dispersed ZnS doped with Cu was prepared using self-propagating hightemperature synthesis. In the photoluminescence excitation spectra, the blue shift of the host lattice excitation peak is observed for powder ZnS:Cu that contains nano-and mesosized (submicron) particles. The obtained spectra indicate that radiative recombination in meso-sized particles is significantly reduced as compared to micro-sized particles, which can be caused by the increase of non-radiative relaxation processes in surface states.