The synthesis and study of semiconducting nanostructure materials have become a considerable interdisciplinary area of research over the past few decades. The control of morphologies and effective doping by right dopant are the two tasks for the synthesis of semiconducting nanoparticles. The present work outlines the synthesis of ZnO and Cr-ZnO nanoparticles via microwave combustion method without using any fuel. The crystal morphology, optical and electrical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction study (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive analysis using X-rays (EDAX), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Keithley source meter. The crystal size was determined from XRD, whose values were found to be decreased with increase in the concentration of Cr up to 2 wt% and further increase in the dopant concentration resulted the formation secondary phase (ZnCr2O4). Scanning electron micrographs shows the hexagonal prism structure of ZnO and Cr-ZnO nanoparticles. EDAX shows the existence of Cr ion in the Cr-ZnO. The optical properties and bandgap studies were undertaken by UV-Visible spectroscopy. I-V characterization study was performed to determine the electrical property of ZnO and Cr-ZnO films. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.