Tin doped ZnS powders (Zn1−xSnxS, x = 0.00, 0.02, 0.05&0.08) were synthesized by a simple Solid state reaction and were characterized by Powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD), UV–Vis–NIR diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer, fluorescence spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The XRD studies revealed that no change in crystal structure was observed by the substitution of Sn into ZnS lattice. The crystallite size was calculated by Scherrer's formula and found that the crystallize size of Sn doped ZnS powders were in the range of 35–45 nm. From the diffused reflectance spectra, the band gap values of Zn1−xSnxS powders were estimated, and they were found to be in the range of 3.53–3.58 eV. The pure ZnS particles showed higher optical absorption in visible region than that of Sn doped ZnS nano particles. The Photoluminescence (PL) spectra of Zn1−xSnxS powders were recorded in the range of 400–700 nm with an excitation wavelength of 360 nm. The Zn1−xSnxS powders exhibited ferromagnetism at low temperature (100 K) and super paramagnetism at room temperature (300 K). The strength of magnetization increased with increase of Sn doping concentration from 0.015 emu/g to 0.18 emu/g, when x increased from 0.00–0.05. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.