In the present work, nanocrystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been successfully deposited onto glass substrates by simple and economical chemical bath deposition (CBD) and successive ionic layer adsorption reaction (SILAR) methods. These films were further characterized for their structural, optical, surface morphological and wettability properties. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns for both CBD and SILAR deposited ZnO thin films reveal the highly crystalline hexagonal wurtzite structure. From optical studies, band gaps obtained are 2.9 and 3.0 eV for CBD and SILAR deposited thin films, respectively. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) patterns show growth of well defined randomly oriented nanorods and nanograins on the CBD and SILAR deposited samples, respectively. The resistivity of CBD deposited films (10(2) Omega cm) is lower than that of SILAR deposited films (10(5) Omega cm). Surface wettability studies show hydrophobic nature for both films. From the above results it can be concluded that CBD grown ZnO thin films show better properties as compared to SILAR method. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.