ZnO: Ga thin films have been prepared by spin coating on glass substrate using solutions of zinc acetate dihydrate and gallium nitrate hydrate precursors in methanol, ethanol and 2-methoxyethanol with mono-ethanolamine as complexing agent to examine the effect of solvent on their opto-electrical characteristics. The selection of the solvent involves factors like toxicity, sol stability and the film properties. Accordingly, ethanol is shown to be suitable for yielding a stable sol to produce low cost 1 at% Ga-ZnO thin films useful for photovoltaic applications. These films exhibit hexagonal structure with (0001) preferred orientation, optical transmittance of similar to 75-96% in wavelength range 400-900 nm, electrical resistivity of similar to 3 x 10(-2) Omega-cm and electron mobility of similar to 24 cm(2)/V. s. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.