Etch pit formation has been studied on (111)A, (111)B, and (100)CdTe surfaces using a nitric acid/potassium bichromate etch with varying Ag+ ion concentrations. The results can best be explained using an adsorption poisoning model originally proposed to explain etch pit formation in InSb, with modifications to take into account the higher ionicity of CdTe. Although the results were fairly reproducible, the etch pit density was consistently lower than that obtained with the Nakagawa etch. Aβ dislocation pits were seen for the first time in CdTe.