We report on photoconductivity of films of CdTe nanocrystals (NCs) using time-resolved microwave photoconductivity (TRMC). Spherical and tetrapodal CdTe NCs with tunable size-dependent properties are studied as a function of surface ligand (including inorganic molecular chalcogenide species) and annealing temperature. Relatively high carrier mobility is measured for films of sintered tetrapod NCs (4 cm2/(V s)). Our TRMC findings show that Te2鈥?/sup> capped CdTe NCs show a marked improvement in carrier mobility (11 cm2/(V s)), indicating that NC surface termination can be altered to play a crucial role in charge-carrier mobility even after the NC solids are sintered into bulk films.