A theoretical model has been developed for calculating the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of scintillators, by taking into account the internal structure of granular scintillators often used in medical imaging detectors. Scintillators were considered to consist of N elementary thin layers containing spherical scintillating grains of equal size. Grains were assumed to be regularly distributed within each thin layer, the thickness of the latter being equal to the grain diameter. Values of the X-ray absorption and X-ray attenuation coefficients, of the intrinsic X-ray to light conversion efficiency and of the optical scattering and absorption coefficients were used as input data to the model. Optical scattering and optical absorption coefficients were determined by fitting the model to experimental luminescence data. The model was employed to calculate the detective quantum efficiency of La2O2S : Tb, Y2O2S : Tb, Y2O2S : Eu, ZnSCdS : Ag, ZnSCdS : Au,Cu scintillators. Results of the calculations were found close to values published in previous studies.