The electronic and structural properties of copper phthalocyanine deposited onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes were studied as a function of the deposition thickness. The valence band and core level spectra were investigated using photoemission spectroscopy. A shift of the organic highest occupied molecular level toward the Fermi level was observed for very thin film, together with a small shift of the nitrogen and copper core level peak positions. Scanning electron microscope images showed the formation of small particles around the nanotubes, forming a thin overlayer decorating the nanotube walls. An x-ray diffraction analysis reported that these particles present both the alpha and beta crystalline phases. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.