Article is mainly emphasized on the step-wise development of dye sensitized solar cells based on solution processed ZnO films by using cost effective two-step chemical route and with the use of low cost Eosin-Y dye as a sensitizer. The growth of ZnO includes the formation of seed layer followed by the growth of petal like structure consisting of interconnected nanoparticles leading to cactus morphology with high surface area. The influence of processing parameters on the performance of device is systematically investigated which includes deposition time, solute concentration, annealing temperature, dye concentration, dye adsorption time and iodine concentration in electrolyte. It has been observed that these process parameters play a vital role towards enhancement in the device performance. Finally, the device exhibited 2.16% power conversion efficiency under 1 sun (AM 1.5G, 100 mW/cm(2)). (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.