MgZnO films were grown on quartz substrates by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique with a combinatorial target. The structural and optical properties of the sputtering films were characterized. Based on the MgZnO films, planar geometry metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structured ultraviolet (UV) detectors were fabricated. At 30 V bias, a peak responsivity of 3.5 mA/W was achieved at 285 nm, and the visible rejection was about one order of magnitude with 25 pairs of electrodes. Afterward, in order to improve the responsivity, the surface of the MgZnO-based detector was sputtered ZnO within 20 s. The responsivity was improved significantly from 3.5 to 15.8 mA/W after surface treatment, and the corresponding visible rejection increased to three orders of magnitude. It revealed ZnO particles play a key role in enhancing the responsivity of detector, and the physical mechanism has been explained by a straightforward model. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.