In this work, we report on the electrodeposition of ZnO thin films on n-Si (1 0 0) and glass substrates. The influence of the deposition time on the morphology of ZnO thin films was investigated. The ZnO thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show a variation of ZnO texture from main (0 0 2) at 10 min to totally (1 0 1) at 15 min deposition time. The photoluminescence (PL) studies show that both UV (similar to 382 nm) and blue (similar to 432 nm) luminescences are the main emissions for the electrodeposited ZnO films. In addition, the film grown at 15 min indicates an evident decrease of the yellow-green (similar to 520 nm) emission band comparing with that of 10 min. Finally, transmittance spectra show a high transmission value up to 85% in the visible wavelength range. Such results would be very interesting for solar cells applications. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.