Highly luminescent, and bio-compatible GSH capped CdTe quantum dots (GSH-CdTe QDs) were prepared through a facile microwave (MW) aided wet chemical method. The tunability of the emission wavelength of the as obtained nanostructure was achieved simply by varying the size of CdTe cores and thickness of the CdSe shell. In addition, an effective shell-coating route was developed for the synthesis of CdTe/CdSe core/shell (C/S) and CdTe/CdSe/ZnS core/shell/shell (C/S/S) nanostructures by adopting a low temperature route for shell deposition. The UV–vis optical absorption and Photoluminescence (PL) emission spectral study were employed to study the confinement of excitons within the C/S interface isolating them from the solution environment and consequently improving the stability of the nanostructure. Finally a mechanism of formation of type II C/S/S structure having better optical properties were proposed.