My PhD thesis work is to design, synthesize, and characterize inexpensive and reliable nanocomposites for the photovoltaic (PV) devices. Photovoltaic materials utilized in our studies were synthesized using simple and inexpensive methods. The material properties were tailored and optimized to improve the optical absorption and charge transport properties. The PV cells fabricated with these materials exhibited improved power conversion efficiencies (PCE). The origin of charge generation and charge transfer was studied using different photoactive materials such as CdSe quantum dots (QDs), perylene-3, 4, 9, 10-tetracarboxylic-3, 4, 9, 10-dianhydride (PTCDA), poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), multilayer graphene (MuLG), and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM).