Room temperature soft chemical deposition route has been utilized to grow thin films of ZnO on glass substrate. Annealing at 673 K removed zinc hydroxide phase and nanofibrous ZnO films with wurtzite crystal structure were obtained. Decrease in the room temperature electrical resistivity from 107 to 10(4) Omega cm was observed after annealing. The nanofibrous ZnO thin films were sensitive to the explosive liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and the maximum response of 17% at 698 K under the exposure of 6500 ppm of LPG was obtained. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B. V.