A facile method for fabricating large area TiO2 and TiO2-Au nanocomposite films for dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is presented using a spray technique. Pre-synthesized gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were sprayed together with the TiO2 NPs and composite films with brilliant coloration due to surface plasmon resonances of Au NPs were prepared. Composite films containing similar to 15 nm sized Au NPs exhibited enhanced absorption in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. DSSCs with a large area of similar to 4.5 cm(2) were fabricated and a photocurrent enhancement of similar to 10% was obtained for plasmonic DSSC containing 0.3 wt.% of similar to 15 nm Au NPs. Incident photon to current conversion efficiency data conclusively showed enhanced currents in the visible region of the polychromatic spectrum arising due to plasmon enhanced near-field effects of Au NPs around the absorbing dye molecules. (C) 2014 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.