We have demonstrated that cadmium deoxycholate (1), a Cd-salt, provides a convenient and inexpensive route to high quality CdSe nanocrystals with photoluminescence (PL) in the blue to red region of the visible spectrum, with reproducible quantum yields as high as ∼47%. Owing to the high thermal stability of the bile acid based cadmium precursor (decomposition point: 332 °C), it was possible to achieve high injection and growth temperatures (∼300 °C) for the nanocrystals, which was essential for obtaining larger CdSe nanocrystals emitting in the red region (625–650 nm) with a sharp full width at half maximum (FWHM) (23 nm) and multiple (6–7) excitonic absorption features. The as-prepared CdSe nanocrystals synthesized from cadmium deoxycholate represent a series of highly efficient emitters with pure colours and controllable sizes, shapes and structures.