We present a versatile strategy toward the preparation of nanostructured metal sulfide layers, which exploits the photosensitivity of metal xanthates as a powerful tool for lithographic structuring. Using extreme ultraviolet interference lithography (EUV-IL), we successfully realized well-defined column and comb nanostructures. This approach provides new pathways to fabricate highly ordered structured metal sulfide layers with periodicities far below 100 nm for potential application in hybrid solar cells. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.