snegron, the cds issue is temporary, and can be "balanced" out quicker and more reliably by placing a lens cap or hand over the lens for a few seconds. The alternate is to point the lens toward something in the shadows and wait about 10 seconds or more. In our photo world, there are two types of device that are of interest to us: photoconductive and photovoltaic. We see these commonly as CdS and Silicon cells, respectively.
Let's tackle the photovoltaic silicon cell, which is the more common and modern of the two. When photons strike the cell surface, they are absorbed by the silicon semiconductor strata and electrons are displaced creating a voltage potential and current flow. These cells actually generate electricity, and is why they are used to power outdoor landscape lights, alternative electrical generators, and mundane calculators. They need no battery to make them operate. In a camera, the increase in voltage produced by light striking the cell registers on the cell. A silicon semiconductor is very stable, accurate, and has a very fast response and recovery state time due to being a single substrate layer.
A CdS cell (cadmium disulfide) is a photoconductive device. This means that it does not generate voltage on its own; instead it regulates the amount of voltage traveling through it as provided by a battery or power source according to the intensity of the light falling on the cell. These sorts of cells are comprised of two "bands", a conduction band and a valence band. Sandwiched in between them is what is known as a doner and acceptance level.
In darkness, the ratio of electrons and "holes" is very high and dense. This creates a state of high resistance, and little voltage can flow through to something like a metering needle in the camera. When light strikes the CdS crystal, electrons located in the valence band are driven toward the conduction band. This decreases the number of electrons, increases the number of holes, and lowers resistance so that more voltage can flow.
The acceptor level can capture an excess of free holes and lower the potential for recombination (what was called here "memory"). This state changes more slowly because the return to the N state is not dependent upon the change in light, rather a return to steady state. Sulfur, being the ionic constituent of this process degrades over time. This is why many of these cells become inaccurate, intermittent, or faulty. Returning to a dark state returns the cell to its pre-excitation, high resistance state.
Clear as mud?