ZnO thin films were prepared on soda-lime glass from a single spin-coating deposition of a sol–gel prepared with anhydrous zinc acetate [Zn(C 2 H 3 O 2 ) 2 ], monoethanolamine [H 2 NC 2 H 4 OH] and isopropanol. The deposited films were dried at 50 and 300°C. X-ray analysis showed that the films were amorphous. Laser annealing was performed using an excimer laser. The laser pulse repetition rate was 25Hz with a pulse energy of 5.9mJ, giving a fluence of 225mJcm −2 on the ZnO film. Typically, five laser pulses per unit area of the film were used. After laser processing, the hexagonal wurtzite phase of zinc oxide was observed from X-ray diffraction pattern analysis. The thin films had a transparency of greater than 70% in the visible region. The optical band-gap energy was 3.454eV. Scanning electron microscopy and profilometry analysis highlighted the change in morphology that occurred as a result of laser processing. This comparative study shows that our sol–gel processing route differs significantly from ZnO sol–gel films prepared by conventional furnace annealing which requires temperatures above 450°C for the formation of crystalline ZnO.