Ongoing interest in oxide semiconductor as components of gas sensing devices is motivated by environmental monitoring and intelligent control. NiO with different precursor solution were synthesized by aqueous chemical deposition and pyrolysis process. Here the method is quite facile, green and free of surfactant. Their morphology, crystal structure and chemical composition have been systemically characterized by various techniques. Interestingly, the microstructures of NiO can be engineered by different nickel salt (nitrate or chloride). These NiO based gas sensors showed substantially enhanced responses to benzaldehyde target analyte and exhibited fast response-recover feature. The observed gas sensing behavior is explained in terms of oxygen ionosorption mechanism. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.