a), S. V. GAPONENKO (a), I. E. MALINOVSKII (a), V. Yu. LEBED (a), P. I. KUZNETSOV (b), G. G. YAKUSHCHEVA (b), and A. V. KUZNETSOV (c)Using the method of single-and two-beam laser spectroscopy, the nonlinear optical properties of high-quality MOCVD-grown ZnSe and CdSe samples are studied. At nitrogen temperatures the dominating mechanism of absorption nonlinearity is the plasma screening of excitons. Along with this, in the nonlinear response of ZnSe crystals the exciton-exciton interaction causing band broadening takes place. At room temperatures, in CdSe a strong dependence is revealed of absorption spectrum deformation on the exciting radiation quanta energy which is associated with slowing down of electron-hole plasma cooling.