We herein report the synthesis of orange emitting CdSe-polycaprolactone nanofiber via a simple and total phosphine free method. The hexadecylamine (HDA)-capped CdSe NPs was synthesized by dispersing the as -synthesized CdSe cluster in octadecene followed by thermolysis in hexadecylamine in the absence of an inert gas. The as -synthesized CdSe NPs are of good quality with high orange luminescent intensity, narrow emission width and high photostability. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) micrograph revealed that the particles are small, monodispersed and highly crystalline with an average particle size of 2.67 +/- 43 nm. The dispersion of the as-synthesized CdSe NPs in biopolymer polycaprolactone (PCL) produced reddish orange emitting electrospun polymer nanocomposite nanofibers. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.