In the present study,bismuth sulfide (Bi₂S₃) nanoribbons were prepared by the hydrothermal method using bismuth nitrate(Bi (NO₃) 3·5H₂O),thioacetamide (C2H5NS) and nitrilotriacetic acid (C6H9NO6) as raw materials at 180 ℃ for 12 h.The reaction time was largely reduced and the route has been unreported.The constituent,structure and morphology of the products were characterized by XRD,XPS and TEM,respectively.The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern shows that the Bi₂S₃ crystals belong to the orthorhombic phase (JCPDS:17-320) with calculated lattice constants a=1.110 6 nm,b=1.099 3 nm and c=0.389 2 nm,which are consistent with the reported values (a=1.114 9 nm,b=1.130 4 nm and c=0.398 1 nm).Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies reveal that the appearance of as-prepared Bi₂S₃ is nanoribbon-like with the typical width of about 100 nm;and the high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) image shows that the crystal grows along the y axis.The quantification of X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) analysis peaks gives an atomic ratio of 2:3 for Bi:S,which is consistent with thE_given formula of Bi₂S₃.Furthermore,the Raman and UV-Vis spectra of the product were also studied.Compared with bulk Bi₂S₃ (236 cm^-1 ),the Raman absorption band of the Bi₂S₃ nanoribbons (195 cm^-1 ) red-shifts 41 cm^-1,which is because of the surface effect of nanomaterials.Furthermore,the product has absorption at the wavelength of about 450 nm in the UV-Vis region.The direct bang gap energy (E_g) was estimated to be about 1.58 eV(E_g of the bulk Bi₂S₃ is 1.3 eV),which indicates that the product has potential application in the optical and electrical areas.