High density ZnO nanorods grown on silicon oxide-coated Si (1 1 1) substrates were used to fabricate an MSM UV photodetector. The maximum sensitivity of the detector was about 1150, which was maintained over the wide range of applied bias. The photodetector responsivity increased slightly until reaching a maximum value at 374 nm and exhibited a sharp cutoff at 378 nm. The obtained photodetector responsivity was as high as 1.1 A/W. The detector shows fast photoresponse with a rise time of 0.008 s and a decay time of 0.021 s. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.