Nanocrystalline SnO2 thin film was prepared by cathodic electrodeposition-anodic oxidation and its structure was characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM, UV-visible absorption and nitrogen adsorption-desorption by BET method. The obtained film has a surface area of 137.9m(2)/g with grain sized of 24 nm. Thus the prepared SnO2 thin film can be applied as an electrode in dye-sensitized solar cell. The SnO2 electrode was successfully sensitized by Erythrosin dye and photoelectrochemical measurements indicate that the cell present short-circuit photocurrent (J(sc)) of 760 mu A/cm(2), fill factor (FF = 0.4), photo-voltage (V-oc = 0.21 V) and overall conversion efficiency (eta) of 0.06% under direct sun light illumination. The relatively low fill factor and photovoltage are attributed to the reduction of triodiode by conduction band electrons and intrinsic properties of SnO2. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.