An ultraviolet photodetector based on p-NiO/n-ZnO heterojunction was fabricated using thermal oxidation and hydrothermal growth processes. The properties of the UV photoresponse under various strains were investigated. The results showed that the magnitude and the sign of the strain (tension/compression) have a great influence on the decay time by coupling piezoelectric and surface oxygen adsorption/desorption effects. These results demonstrate an effective approach for designing and fabricating strain modulated fast reset UV photodetectors. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.